The Hundred: the 100
by BarnCat23
Summary: Taylor and Azalea were both arrested on the Ark for completely different things. After meeting on a dropship headed to Earth, they become friends. But on Earth, anything goes. Can they survive all that season 1 has to offer? Starts in 1x01. OC/Bellamy OC/Jasper. Co-written with my little sister. [Sequel now up!]
1. Chapter One: Pilot (1)

_Chapter One: Pilot_

**Taylor's POV**

I lay on the hard ground of my cell, staring up at the stars through my window. The stars have always fascinated me. The way they shine and shoot through the sky looks so effortless. I briefly wondered if Sawyer, my twin brother, was seeing the same thing. He was in a cell to the left of mine. When I was fourteen, my older sister, Felicity, I wanted to go to a party on our station. It didn't end well, though. You see, on the Ark it's illegal to have more than one child. It's regulated so that no one gets crowded out by having too many people, and it saves us all from oxygen deprivation.

My parents didn't mean to get pregnant again, but they did. And doing so, they had me and my brother. But now, both of my parents have been floated, and me and my brother have been arrested. I've been in this prison for over three years now. I've only seen my sister a handful of times since my arrest. I jolt up to my feet when my cell door suddenly opens. Three guards come into my cell. "Prisoner three-two-five, turn and face the wall," a guard ordered. I turned with a sigh and faced the wall.

"Hold out your wrist," I held it out, not bothering to pay attention. The guard grabbed my wrist, and clipped a thick and bulky silver bracelet around it near my hand. It stung like crazy and I yanked my arm back. "Ow!" I said.

"Come with us," the guard ordered. He put a hand on my back to guide me out of the cell, into the hall. It's not visiting day…and there isn't a holiday today that I know of…so, where are they taking me? A thought crossed my mind, a thought of my parents being floated, and I panicked. But I went with the guards anyway. As I walked, I turned to look behind me, past the guards. Two guards were forcefully pulling Sawyer from his cell. I hadn't seen him in a long time. "Let go of me!" he said, writhing out of the guard's grasp.

He wore the wrist band, though. The guard whipped out his electric baton and moved to touch Sawyer with it. I gasped, and halted. I turned and lunged into sprint. The guards that were escorting me weren't expecting it, so they couldn't catch me in time to stop me from running. "Prisoner three-two-five!" a guard shouted. I ran down the hallway and skidded to a stop before running into Sawyer. I moved myself in front of the guard with the electric baton and held my hands up. "No!" I said.

The guard halted, not expecting this. "Wait, please," I said. I turned to Sawyer and he hugged me tightly. "Taylor, what's going on?" he asked. I shook my head. "I don't know," I said. "But we have to go with them."

"No, I won't," he said, stepping back from me.

"Please, Sawyer," I said. He turned and looked at the rest of us being pulled out of our cells. I grabbed his arm and pulled. "C'mon." I pulled him with me and nodded to the guards. They led and followed to make sure we couldn't run, and took us down the hall. After turning several corners, going through several doors, we came to an open hatch. The guards directed us inside. I grabbed Sawyer's hand and pulled him in with me. It wasn't a floating chamber, it was a dropship. I was relieved but also more panicked than before.

If we weren't getting floated, then what was happening to us? Another guard pulled me from Sawyer, taking me to a row of seating on the second level, near the far wall. I sat and buckled myself in, then the guard left. Two guards carried in an unconscious girl with brownish-blonde hair and buckled her in the seat next to mine. The seats began filling and filling until the entire level was full. Then, with a big thunk, the door closed and locked us in.

It was quiet, and then there was a small jerking motion to the entire dropship. We were departing. I was pretty sure Earth was our destination. We were only seconds into the flight, when the girl beside me woke up. She pulled at her buckles and then looked around. "Don't bother," I said. She turned to me, looked me over quickly, and then looked around again. "Where are we?" she asked. "What happened?"

"We're on a dropship, headed to Earth," I said.

"Earth? I thought it wasn't survivable?" she said, in shock. I chuckled at the irony and opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a voice. Screens on the walls turned on and Chancellor Jaha was there, talking. "_Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance. And, as your Chancellor, is it my hope you see this as not just a chance for you but a chance for all of us_, _indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what's waiting for you down there. If the odds were survivable better, we'd have sent others. But we're sending you because you're crimes have made you expendable_."

To the right, a kid shouted an insult and Wells, the Chancellor's son, who was also on the flight. I shook my head and kept watching. "…_your records wiped clean. The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain three hundred people_…" Suddenly I couldn't hear what he said because of the cheers now rising from random people around the level. "Yeah!" someone shouted.

"Go Finn!" a girl shouted. Finn Collins, who arrested for space-walking, was now floating backward in the air towards a row of seating. Wells Jaha and Clarke Griffin sat in those seats. I couldn't make out what Finn was saying to them, but it didn't look good. "What an idiot," I said, shaking my head.

"I'm Azalea Lake," the girl next to me said.

"Taylor James," I said. "What'd they get you for?" Just then, Clarke shouted, "Hey, you two! Stay put if you wanna live!" Two kids cut their straps off and pushed form their chairs. "Stay in your seats!" I shouted. Suddenly the dropship jerked, causing Finn and the two boys to fly to the right and slam into a wall and some wiring. The thick wire broke, spitting out steam and smoke. The whole dropship shook and sparks burst from the ceiling. Instinctively, Azalea and I grabbed hands and held on tight. "Shouldn't there be some kind of parachute on this thing?" Azalea asked, shouting over the noise.

"Just give it a minute!" I shouted back, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. The dropship slowed and the lights flickered. Then we stopped completely and the lights flicked on. The dropship's hum wounded down until it was non-existent. "Listen…" I looked over and saw Monty Green. "No machine-hum."

"Whoa," Jasper Jordan, who was beside him, said. "That's a first." There was a loud clicking, then a set of rolling clicks. All of the belts pooped open. I flew out of my seat and ran to the wall, where the boys landed. Finn was already checking one guy's pulse, so I checked the other. "Finn, is he breathing?" Clarke asked, kneeling beside me. They shared a grim look and someone shouted, "The outer door is on the lower level!" People swarmed the ladders. "No, we can't just open the doors," Clarke said, getting up and running to the ladder.

Finn looked depressed. Well, it was his fault. But I felt bad for him. Then I remembered something. "Sawyer!" I shouted, jumping to my feet. "Sawyer, where are you?" He wasn't on the second level, and I asked a girl coming down from level three if he was up there. She shook her head and continued downward. I felt panicked in my chest, and I hurried down the ladder to level one. "Taylor!" I instantly felt relieved hearing his voice. But then I saw him in the crowd, and I ran to him. I threw my arms around him and he reciprocated quickly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Are you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," he said. I turned and saw Azalea near the front. I grabbed Sawyer's hand and pulled him closer to the front with me. I stood beside Azalea and Sawyer stood next to me. A tall, dark haired guy that looked to be older than eighteen stood by the door. He grabbed the handle on the level, and pulled. A gust of wind blew my hair back as the door dropped open. Light blinded me and I put my hand up to block it while my eyes adjusted. A girl I recognized as Octavia Blake walked down the ramp slowly, then hopped off the edge.

She was still. Then, throwing her arms up, she screamed, "We're back, b****es!" Cheers erupted and everyone swarmed past, running out at full speed.

**Azalea's POV**

My hands worked diligently to draw out my thoughts. I had drawn many thoughts on the walls of my cell, but this one was special. It was a Water Lily, a flower I had only seen in books. It's flared petals sat upon a round Lily Pad in a pool of crystal clear water. As I drew it, I could see it as if it were right in front of me, smell it's scent carried away in the breeze, hear the water gently lapping at the pond's edge. It was a magical scene. But magic isn't reality. This is reality.

The door to my cell opened, startling me. I spun around as three guards entered my cell. "Prisoner eight-nine-four, turn and face the wall," a guard instructed. I turned as instructed. It was probably only a routine room check or something. Then I heard a click and I looked over my shoulder to see the guard holding a silver bracelet. I panicked. "No, there must be some mistake," I said.

"Hold out your wrist," he ordered.

"No, no, I'm only sixteen!" I said, stepping to the side as he reached for me. Another guard pulled out his electric baton and my eyes widened. They couldn't be doing this, they couldn't. "No, please!" I pleaded. I couldn't be floated, I was only sixteen. It must be a mistake. I heard a ruckus outside my cell, and whipped around. Prisoners were being led past my cell. What was happening? Were they going to kill all of us? "Prisoner eight-nine-four, stand down. Hold out your wrist," a guard demanded.

"No!" I lunged forward, just barely escaping the guard's hands, and ran past the other two before they could reach me. I darted outside my cell and slammed into the railing as the door swung closed behind me. I looked down at the lower levels. As I thought, the guards were taking all of us. People wrestled with the guards on all levels, trying not to be taken, but epically failing. "Prisoner eight-nine-four, stand down!" guards blocked the exits to the left and to the right, trapping me where I was. The guard next to the one that spoke held up a dart gun.

I tried to run away, but I felt it stick into my arm and I sank to the ground, quickly falling asleep. My eyes fluttered open and everything came into focus. I was sitting in a chair, strapped in. I pulled against the restraints but they didn't budge. "Don't bother," a girl sitting to my left with long, dark hair said.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking at the other rows of kids around us. "What happened?"

"We're on a dropship, headed to Earth," she said.

"Earth? I thought it wasn't survivable?" The girl chuckled and opened her mouth, but was cut off by an all-too-familiar voice. "_Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance. And, as your Chancellor, is it my hope you see this as not just a chance for you but a chance for all of us_," Up on the walls, Chancellor Jaha spoke on a screen. The sight of him was revolting. The girl next to me watched thoughtfully. "_Indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what's waiting for you down there. If the odds were survivable better, we'd have sent others. But we're sending you because you're crimes have made you expendable_."

In the opposite corner from me, a kid shouted an insult, and several kids laughed. I rolled my eyes and kept watching. The signal cut in and out. "…_your records wiped clean. The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain three hundred people_…" His words became muted by the sound of cheers. "Yeah!" one kid near me shouted.

"Go Finn!" some girl called. Finn Collins, an idiot who was arrested for wasting a month's worth of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk, pushed off the ladder and floated backwards into mid-air. "The space-walk-bandit strikes again," some other kid said. More random cheers erupted. "What an idiot," the girl sitting next to me said, shaking her head.

"I'm Azalea Lake," I said. She smiled at me. "Taylor James," she said. "What'd they get you for?" Suddenly I heard, "Hey, you two! Stay put if you wanna live!" I looked around and spotted some kids trying to cut off their straps. "Stay in your seats!" Taylor yelled. Just then, the dropship shook drastically, sending the two kids flying, along with Finn, into a wall. The whole dropship went into crazy turbulence. Smoke or some kind of steam bellowed up from where Finn and the two kids landed, and sparks flew down from the ceiling. Taylor and I instantly grabbed each other's hand for support. "Shouldn't there be some kind of parachute on this thing?" I asked, yelling over the loud sounds and the screaming.

"Just give it a minute!" Taylor replied, eyes squeezed shut. Then the dropship began to drastically slow it's descent, and the lights flickered on and off. The dropship stopped moving suddenly and the loud hum began to shut off. Sparks burst from the ceiling again. The lights flicked on and stayed on. It was suddenly very quiet. "Listen…" some kid said. "No machine-hum."

"Whoa…that's a first," another kid replied. A loud click followed by a rolling set of clicks, and then my buckles popped open. Taylor was out of her seat and running over to help the kids that had hit the wall before I could even think of getting up. I stood, and found I was extremely dizzy. After a few deep breaths, I heard, "The outer door is on the lower level!" My whole body jolted awake. The door? We could see the ground. I ran to the ladder and chastely climbed down after shoving my way into the line.

I jumped off the last steps, into the sea of people crowding the door. "Okay, just back it up guys," a tall, dark haired guy said, as he reached for the lever that opens the door.

"Stop!" a blonde girl jumped off the ladder and moved quickly through the crowd, pushing past me. "The air could be toxic."

"If the air is toxic, then we're all dead anyway," he replied. He moved to open the door, then froze when a brunette girl said, "Bellamy?" she hung from another ladder to the right. She jumped off and pushed through to the front of the crowd. Whispers and loud murmurs erupted in the crowd. "Look how big you are," he said. She lunged forward and hugged him. "What are you wearing? A guard's uniform?" the girl said, pulling away.

"I barrowed it, to get on the dropship. Someone has to look out for you," he said. She moved forward and hugged him again. "Where's your wrist band?" the blonde girl asked. The brunette girl pulled away and glared at her. "Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year," she said.

"No one has a brother," some kid behind me shouted.

"That's Octavia Blake! The girl they found hidden in the floor!" another girl shouted, pointing. Octavia responded by lunging towards the crowd. Bellamy grabbed her. "Octavia, Octavia no," he said. "Let's give them something else to remember you by."

"Yeah? Like what?" she asked.

"How about being the first person on the ground in a hundred years?" he suggested. She smiled and nodded, then he moved for the lever. Taylor found my side and watched the door with round eyes. Bellamy pulled down the handle and a gust of wind blew inward as the door dropped open. Light blinded me momentarily, but my eyes adjusted. Tall, green trees erected from the ground for as far as I could see out the door. The air smelled almost sweet. I couldn't believe it. Octavia slowly stepped down the ramp, then hopped off the end.

Her feet hit the dirt and she was still. Then she threw her arms up in the air, screaming at the top of her lungs, "We're back, b****es!" Cheers erupted from the sea of kids, and then everyone ran out at full speed.


	2. Chapter Two: Pilot (2)

_Chapter Two: Pilot (Part Two)_

**Taylor's POV**

As everyone in front of me ran out, I thought of what I wanted to do first. I safely found my way out of the sea of kids and stepped to the side of the dropship. I walked around the backside of the dropship and slipped into the trees, trying not to be noticed. I wanted to explore a bit without having to endure the annoyance of the hooting and hollering from everyone else. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, some leftover from the dramatic ride down, some from being on Earth. The Euphoria was indescribable.

I'd dreamed of seeing trees and the sky and the sun. My mind was racing with all of the different things I wanted to see, trying to put them into an order of importance. After looking around for a few minutes, I thought it best to go find Sawyer. I trudged through the thick foliage, back around the front side of the dropship. Clarke was drawing something on a map and Wells looked like he wanted to talk to her. I walked over to him and nudged him with my elbow. "Aren't you excited?" I asked, with sarcastic enthusiasm.

"I'd be more excited if my best friend didn't hate me," he said, half-heartedly smiling at me. I gave him a sympathetic look. "Come on, Wells. She can't hate you forever. The first step is talking to her," I gave him a gentle nudge in the back, causing him to step forward. "You can do it. Good luck." He gave me a look and sighed, then walked over to her. "Look at miss matchmaker," Octavia slung her arm around my shoulders and hung on me. "You're not friends with him, are you?"

"So what if I am?" I asked.

"Uh, hello, he's Jaha's kid! His father floated my mother," she said, stepping away angrily.

"Octavia, he's a good guy. And while you were finding very convenient ways to avoid me," she looked down and pursed her lips. "He was the only one that would talk to me." She then shot to life and her eyes brightened. "Come meet Bellamy!" She grabbed my arm and started pulling me away. She dragged me over to a tall, dark haired guy that looked a little older than eighteen. From what I saw, he didn't wear a wristband. "Bell," Octavia said. He finished talking to another kid and turned around. "This is my friend Taylor."

Bellamy looked at me with skeptically eyes, but wore a wide smirk on his face. "You don't look like a criminal," he said. "What did you do, anyway?"

"Um…I was born?" I said, throwing some attitude back in his pretty boy face. "And what exactly is a criminal supposed to look like?"

"Hands off of him, he's with us," John Murphy and his cronies walked up to Wells and I turned my attention to them. Wells held up his hands. "Relax," he said. "We're just trying to figure out where we are."

"We're on the ground," Bellamy said. "That not good enough for you?" Wells started walking in our direction as he spoke. "We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message, that has to be our first priority," he said, stopping several feet away.

"Sc**w your father," Octavia spat. "What? You think you're in charge here? You and…your little princess." Clarke stepped forward. "Do you think we care who's in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather, not because the Chancellor said so but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we will get and the harder this'll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave. Now."

"I got a better idea," Bellamy said. "You two go. Find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change." Several kids loudly agreed and I shook my head. "Idiots…" I mumbled, walking over to Clarke and Wells. "You're not listening," Wells tried to reason. "We all need to go." Suddenly Murphy shoved me out of the way and pushed Wells to the side. "Hey look everybody, the Chancellor of Earth," he mocked.

"You think that's funny?" Wells asked. Murphy lunged forward and drove his heel into Wells' ankle, and Wells hit the ground. "Wells!" I shouted, moving forward. Arms grabbed me and pulled me back, forcing me to keep still. I writhed against the grip of one of Murphy's cronies, but their grip was like iron. Wells pulled himself up to stand. Wells tried for a fighting stance, readying himself for murphy next move. Murphy stepped forward, and then back, teasing Wells. Out of nowhere Finn dropped down from the side of the dropship and landed between them. Finn stared down Murphy. "Kid's got one leg," Finn said. "How about you wait until it's a fair fight."

Murphy stepped back, backing down form the fight, and I felt extremely relieved. Octavia walked over. "Hey, spacewalker!" she called, and everyone paused. "Rescue me next." I rolled my eyes and Finn smiled, getting laughs from some of the others. I hurried over and helped Wells sit down and Clarke went to get something to use as a splint. "That was stupid," I said, once Clarke was out of earshot. "You could've gotten seriously hurt, Wells." I knelt down and looked over his ankle. "I didn't really choose for Murphy to challenge me like that," he defended.

"No, but you could have walked away," I said. Clarke came back and I sighed. I stood and stepped a few feet away and looked around for Sawyer, but I couldn't see him. He was probably with Sterling and Monroe. Those three, when you put them together, could raise hell on Earth. Literally. Finn walked over to Clarke and Wells. Then Clarke stood. "So, when do we leave for Mount Weather?" Finn asked.

"Right now," Clarke said. She turned to Wells. "We'll be back tomorrow with food." Wells looked at them skeptically. "How are the two of you going to carry enough food for a hundred?" he asked. Finn turned, then grabbed Jasper and Monty, pulling them over. "Four of us," Finn said, patting their shoulders. "Can we go now?"

"Sounds like a party," Octavia said, walking over. "Make it five." Bellamy walked over after her. "Hey, what the h*ll are you doing?" he asked.

"Going for a walk?" she said, in a matter-of-fact way. Suddenly Clarke stepped forward. "Hey," she grabbed Finn's wristband. "Have you been trying to take this off?"

"Yeah. So?" he asked.

"This wristband transmits your vitals to the ark. Take it off and they'll think you're dead," she said.

"Should I care?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know, do you want the people you love to think you're dead?" Clarke asked. "Do you want them to follow you down in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying. Okay…now let's go."

"I'm coming, too," I said, stepping into the conversation. Clarke nodded and Finn started walking, followed by Jasper then Monty. Clarke followed up behind them and I walked behind her. "Taylor!" Sawyer ran up to me and I stopped walking. Octavia skipped past me, trying to catch up. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going with them to Mount Weather," I said.

"What? It's not safe," he said.

"Sawyer…people can't know we're related, okay? Stay here and look out for Wells. I'll be back tomorrow," I said. He knew there was no arguing with me when my mind was made up, so he nodded and stepped back. I nodded and hurried to catch up to the others. As Clarke and Octavia walked up ahead, just in front of me, I heard Octavia say, "Before you get any ideas, Finn's mine."

"Before you get any ideas, I don't care," Clarke said.

"Wait for me! I'm coming, too!" I stopped and turned around, just in time to move out of the way of a speeding Azalea. She skidded to a stop and we walked together. About a half hour into the trek, we walked through a patch of purple flowers. Finn picked one and put it in Octavia's hair, and she smiled like crazy. "That, my friend…" Jasper whispered to Monty, thinking I couldn't hear them behind me. "…Is game."

"That, my friend," Monty said, picking one of the flowers and eating it. "Is Poison Sumac."

"What? it is?" Octavia quickly brushed it from her hair.

"The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal. Calming, actually," Monty said.

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark," Jasper explained. As I walked by them, I grabbed a flower off the bush. "They're pretty," Azalea said, walking beside me.

"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke said, far ahead.

"Come on, Clarke," Finn said. "How do you block all this out?" _Here we go_, I thought. The group stopped walking while Clarke spoke. "Well, it's simple," Clarke said. "I wonder, why haven't we seen any animals? Maybe there are none, maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. It sure is pretty, though. Come on." I sighed and followed after Clarke while the rest of the group stayed put an extra second. As I passed, Octavia mumbled, "Maybe someone should slip her some Poison Sumac."

Jasper and Finn laughed, and Azalea came to walk beside me again. "I gotta do what you two did to get busted," Finn said, a little while later.

"Sumac's not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean," Monty said.

"And someone forgot to replace what we took," Jasper said.

"I've apologized like a thousand times," Monty said.

"What about you, Octavia? What'd they get you for?" Jasper asked. I winced, knowing she'd probably snap at him. "Being born," she said, using my line from earlier. Then she hurried on ahead leaving the boys stunned a bit behind her. Up ahead, I saw Clarke kneeling. I ran ahead and slowed to a stop behind her. Octavia and I knelt down behind her, trying to see what she was looking at. Finn knelt down behind Clarke, next to me, and Clarke held a finger to her lips, then pointed at a deer that was eating the grass in the clearing in front of us. Monty and Jasper got down low behind us and watched, also. Azalea stayed standing, though.

"No animals, huh?" Finn whispered to Clarke. He wedged past her, then his foot broke a branch. A loud snap echoed out through the trees and the deer's head snapped up. He looked in our direction, and we all lunged backward from the appearance of him. He had two heads, and the space in-between the heads was red and bubbly looking. He then turned and ran off into the trees, leaving us stunned. After taking a small break to recover from the gruesome sight, we continued on our trip.

We started down a steep hill. "You know what I wanna know? Why send us down today, after ninety-seven years? What changed?" Finn asked, walking ahead of us with Octavia a few feet in front of him.

"Who cares?" Octavia said. "I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest." She swung around a small tree and Finn walked past her. I caught up to her and she looked deflated. "Maybe they found something on a satellite?" Monty suggested. "You know, like an old weather satellite or-"

"It wasn't a satellite. The Ark is dying," Clarke said. We all stopped to look at her. She kept walking as she continued. "At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone."

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep?" Finn asked. We resumed walking and I hung back, waiting for Azalea. She was sitting down, tired form the walk. "Come on," I said. "You can make it." She nodded and I helped her stand. We walked a ways behind everyone else, and I couldn't hear what they were saying. But they stopped a few feet ahead and I heard Octavia say, "Good. After what they did to me, I say float 'em all." Then she continued forward without anyone else. Jasper followed her saying, "You don't really mean that."

But I knew for a fact that she meant it. Azalea walked ahead also, but I hung back with Monty. We glanced at each other, then looked at how close Finn and Clarke were as they spoke. "And so it begins," he joked. I laughed. I squeezed past the love birds and ended up running into the back of Jasper. "Hey!" I said, stepping around him.

"D**m, I love Earth," Jasper said, He looked hypnotized. I turned to see what he was looking at and my jaw dropped open. Octavia was undressed at the edge of a river, and Azalea was taking her pants off. Jasper looked her up and down and I nearly retched right there. "Azalea, what are you doing?" I asked.

"It's not safe," Clarke said. Octavia glanced back at us and smirked, then jumped in. Azalea ran behind her and jumped in, as well. I gasped and ran to the edge, everyone following close behind me. "Octavia, we can't swim," Monty said. Octavia's head was half under the water. Azalea was floating on her back next to her. Octavia popped up. "No, but we can stand," she said. She came over to the edge and climbed out, going up top to jump in again. "Wait, there's not supposed to be a river here," Clarke said.

"Well there is, so take off your d**m clothes," Finn said. Azalea stood, laughing, and splashed water at us. Everyone but me started to undress. I wasn't going to jump in there so I climbed up farther on the rocks and sat. Suddenly Jasper paused. "Azalea, get out of the water," he said. I looked up and saw what he was looking at. Something was in the water, creating a bulge at the top, speeding in quickly towards Azalea. I shot to my feet. Azalea turned and saw it, and then it reached her. She squealed, then we drug under the water and carried to the right. "Azalea!" I screamed.

Then suddenly both Azalea and the thing that took her disappeared. The water was completely still and we all froze. I didn't know what to do, I felt so helpless. She suddenly surfaced a far way to the right, screaming and flailing her arms, trying to stay above water. "What the h*ll is that?" Monty asked. I ran to the other side of the rocks as the monstrous looking creature dragging Azalea across the water. Finn ran to the edge and Clarke stopped him. "Wait," she said. "If we distract it, it might let her go." Clarke, Finn, Monty, and I pushed a large rock into the water.

It made a loud thunk. The creature swam away from Azalea, towards the noise, leaving her trying to stay afloat in the water. "Azalea, get to the shore now!" Jasper yelled, running to the edge. He jumped in next to her and grabbed her, then started trying to get her to the rock shore a few feet away. I hurried down to the shore and reached out to try and help, but they were too far away, just out of reach. Suddenly, Finn shouted, "It's coming back! it's headed right for you guys!"

Jasper pulled Azalea near the shore enough for me to reach out and grab her arms. I yanked her up and Jasper pushed the rest of the way, crawling onto the shore himself. The creature just missed their legs as it swam past. There was a huge cut on her bare leg that was red and bleeding. Clarke, Finn, Octavia and Monty ran over. Clarke knelt down and ripped off a piece of Jasper's shirt, then tied it around Azalea's leg. Azalea pulled Jasper into a hug, mumbling, "Thank you."

"You're gonna be okay," Clarke assured her.

"Not to self: next time, save the girl," Monty said, then patted Jasper's shoulder. Despite the event that just happened, we all laughed at that. I helped Azalea to her feet and supported her weight. I helped her up the rocks and to the other side to grab her clothes. Everyone put their clothes back on and then we hiked back into the woods. We walked for a long time until it started getting really dark. We decided to camp out for the night and wait to keep going until morning.

Jasper took Azalea from me and helped her over to a tree to lay down. I sighed and sat where I stood. I was exhausted. Then I laid back and closed my eyes, trying to block out all of their voices. I found myself falling asleep faster than I'd realized I would. In the morning, we backed up and headed back to the river. Finn found a huge vine to use to swing across, and Clarke, Monty, Octavia, Azalea, and I all climbed down to the rocks, while he and Jasper were getting ready to swing. We stood there waiting while Finn stalled. "You wanted to go first, now quit stalling," Clarke said, as Finn pulled on the vine. "Mount Weather awaits."

Jasper whispered something to Finn and then Finn looked at him. "The Apogee, like the Indians, right?" he asked.

"Apogee, not Apache?" Jasper said.

"He knows," Clarke said. "Today, Finn."

"Aye, aye, captain," Finn joked. He pulled back the vine, getting ready to swing, then Jasper said, "Wait, let me." Finn paused, glanced at Azalea—who was looking at Jasper—and then smiled, giving Jasper the vine. "I knew there was a bada** in there somewhere," Finn said, patting Jasper on the back. Finn said something to Jasper, then Jasper got ready to swing. "See you on the other side," he said. Then he swung across. He flew through the air, holding onto the vine.

Then, he let go near the other side, screaming, "Yeah!" He landed on some wood and then bounced forward to the ground. Then he stood and held up his arms. "We. Are. Apogee!" he screamed.

"Yeah!" we all screamed in response.

"Go, Jasper!" Clarke shouted, as we all cheered. Jasper danced around on the other side happily, shouting things like, "Whoo!" and "Yeah!" Next, Clarke stepped up to swing across. "Let's go princess," Finn said. "You're up." He gave her the vine and she held onto it. "Come on Clarke! You got this!" Jasper shouted. "Whoo! Apogees! We did it!" he held up a large piece of metal and screamed, "Mount Weather!" We all cheered, especially Azalea. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere a spear flew in the air and hit Jasper's middle. He flew backwards and I gasped. "J-jasper…Jasper!" Clarke said.

"Jasper!" Monty screamed.

"Come on!" Finn grabbed Clarke and pulled her behind the rocks. Octavia and Monty climbed down next, and I forced Azalea behind the rocks after them. Snapping sounds came from the trees and Clark, Octavia and I looked but we couldn't see anyone. Then it was quiet. Clarke said, "We're not alone."


	3. Chapter Three: Earth Skills

_Chapter Three: Earth Skills_

**Azalea's POV**

We high tailed it through the woods, running back to camp. As I ran, I couldn't help replay the scene over and over in my head. Jasper was so happy, so alive, and then…bam. The spear hit him, sending him backwards. Suddenly, I slammed into the back of Taylor and we went tumbling to the ground. "Monty, get up!" Octavia said, pulling Monty to his feet a few feet ahead. Taylor was on her feet and pulling me up in and instant. "Who are they?" I turned to see everyone staring at something on the ground. I cautiously walked forward and shoved my way between Monty and Octavia to see.

A dark skeleton, covered in moss, lay on the ground. Clarke picked up it's skull. "_What_ are they," she corrected.

"We are so sc**wed," Octavia said, beside me. Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the trees. The scream came from behind us. "Jasper," Clarke said.

"He's alive!" I said. I turned and ran as fast as I could back towards the waterfall. "Azalea! Wait!" Finn grabbed my arm, halting me. "Stay in the trees." I looked for Jasper's body, but he wasn't there anymore. My eyes frantically searched up and down the shore, but I found nothing. "Hey, he was right there," Finn said, devastated.

"Where is he?" I heard Monty say.

"They took him," Taylor said, from beside Finn. "They took him!"

"Oh my g*d," Octavia said.

"Come on, we need to get back to camp, now," Clarke said. Taylor and Finn disappeared from my line of sight. I stayed rooted to the spot. He had to be there, somewhere. I was just missing him. My eyes searched the shore again. A hand grabbed my arm and I jumped. "Azalea," Taylor said. "It'll be okay. We'll go back to camp and get help, okay?" I took one last look, and then nodded. We sprinted into the trees, trying to catch up the the group. By the time we were almost at camp, we were all panting form the sprint. And my leg was on fire.

Sounds of cheering and shouting came into ear shot and we all paused. "Oh no," Taylor said, beside me. "Wells." She took off running, shoving past Finn and Clarke. Monty helped support my weight, helping me back to camp the rest of the way. When we came over the hill, I saw what the ruckus was all about. Like a coliseum or something, a bunch of kids stood on the hill across from ours, watching the fight happening down below in the small valley. It was Wells and Murphy, again. Wells had an arm around Murphy's throat, a knife in hand. "Wells!" Taylor shouted.

She ran down the hill in front of us. I swear, that girl was obsessed with him. It wouldn't surprise me if later on they became a couple. "Let him go!" Clarke, Finn, and Octavia headed down the hill. Monty helped me down after them, but it took me a while. Wells shoved Murphy forward, onto the ground. But Murphy got up and lunged for Wells. Bellamy, who stood a few feet away watching the whole thing, grabbed Murphy by the shoulder, pushing him back. "Enough," he said.

Bellamy turned and saw Octavia coming back in one piece. "Octavia," he said, hurrying to her. They hugged and I turned my attention back the thing with Wells and Taylor. "Where's the food?" Bellamy asked.

"We didn't make it to Mount Weather," Finn said, sitting on a box.

"Then what the h*ll happened out there?" Bellamy asked.

"We were attacked," Clarke said.

"Attacked?" Wells asked, glancing at Clarke. "By what?"

"Not what," Finn said. "Who. Turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder."

"It's true," Clarke said. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors."

"The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us," Taylor said, glancing up at the kids on the hill.

"Yeah but the bad news is, the Grounders will," Finn said. Wells looked around our group and frowned. "Where's the kid with the goggles?" he asked.

"Jasper was hit," I said. "They took him." Taylor grabbed Wells' wrist suddenly. "Where's your wristband?" she asked. Wells looked up at Bellamy and scowled. He jutted his chin in Bellamy's direction, saying, "Ask him." Taylor turned and looked at Bellamy with serious anger in her eyes. She stepped forward. "How many?" she asked.

"Twenty-four and counting," Murphy said, to the right. Taylor shook her head. "You idiots," she said, her voice quiet. Then she raised her voice. "Life support on the Ark is failing! That's why they brought us down here! They need to know that the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there!"

"If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them," Clarke said, looking at the kids on the hill. She turned and glared at Bellamy. "You're killing us!" Bellamy stepped towards the hill. "We're stronger than you think," he said. Taylor shook her head and Clarke rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to her, she's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same? We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore. They say they'll forgive your crimes,"

He began walking to the left. "I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors! The Grounders should worry about us!" The kids cheered screaming, "Yeah!" in one big sea of voices. Clarke walked away, shaking her head, and Monty helped me follow her. "What do we do now?" I asked her.

"Now we go after Jasper," she said. "Get some supplies together as best you can. We leave as soon as we're ready." I nodded and let go of Monty. "Thanks. I got it from here," I said. He nodded and followed Clarke to the dropship. It hurt to walk, so I limped pretty hard. But I made my way to a supply box and got some rope. Next thing I know, Taylor is next to me. "How's your leg?" she asked.

"Sore. But I'm fine," I said.

"You can't go, Azalea. It'll only make things worse for the wound. It could get infected," she said. I spun and glared at her. "I am going, Taylor! I can't just leave Jasper out there with those psychos!"

"Calm down," she said, calming yet firmly. "Think about it clearly." I saw her point. Unfortunately. I sighed, disappointed, and nodded. "Yeah, alright, fine," I said. I gave her the rope. "Be careful." I stepped forward and hugged her, and she hugged me back momentarily. "I will," she said. "Be careful here. Watch your back."

"I will," I nodded. She hurried off towards the dropship and I took a deep breath.

**Taylor's POV**

I walked into the dropship as Clarke was climbing down the ladder. "It's not your ankle Wells," she said. "It's you." She landed and sighed as she walked away. Wells climbed down next. "You came back for reinforcements, I'm gonna help," he said.

"Clarke," Monty said. "He's right. We need him. So far, no one else has volunteered."

"Yeah," I said. They all looked at me and I held up my hand. "I just did."

"Good," Clarke gave me Wells' pack and then turned back around. "I'm sorry Monty, but you're not going either."

"The h*ll I'm not," he said. "Jasper's my best friend."

"You're too important," I tried to explain. "You were raised on Farm Station and recruited for Engineering."

"So?" Monty shrugged.

"So, food and communication," Clarke said. "What's up here, might save up all," She briefly pointing to his head. "You figure out how to talk to the Ark, and I'll bring Jasper back." Finn stepped in the dropship beside me and I turned to him. "Hey, you ready?" I asked.

"I'm not going anywhere, and neither should any of you. That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from three hundred feet," Finn said.

"So what, we just let Jasper die?" Monty asked.

"That's not gonna happen," Clarke said.

"Spacewalker?" I said, looking at Finn. "What a joke. You think you're such an adventurer when you're really just a coward."

"It's not an adventure, Taylor. It's a suicide mission," Finn argued. I shook my head and walked out of the dropship mumbling, "Idiot." Clarke came out soon after I did, followed by Wells. I gave Wells back his pack and Clarke led the way. She led us through camp to Bellamy and Octavia. "I don't know, the other's said it looked like a giant snake," Octavia said.

"Azalea could've been killed," Bellamy said.

"She would've been if Jasper didn't jump in and pull her out," Clarke said.

"I'm coming, too," Octavia said, standing up. Bellamy grabbed her. "No way, O. It's too dangerous."

"He's right, you'll just slow us down," Clarke said. She turned to Bellamy and said, "I'm here for you. I hear you have a gun." I jabbed Clarke in the ribs with my elbow. "Clarke, what are you doing?" I asked. Bellamy lifted his shirt hem, revealing a hand gun tucked into his belt. "Good, follow me," Clarke said, walking.

"And why would I do that?" he asked, turning to her. She stopped. "Because you want _them_ to follow _you_. And right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared," she said, then continued walking. I hurried to catch up with her. "What are you thinking?" I asked her. Wells walked past me, trying to talk to Clarke, too. "Those aren't just bullies, Clarke. They're dangerous criminals," he said, as they walked down the short hill in front of me.

"I'm counting on it," she said. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Bellamy and Murphy were following a few feet behind. We got about a mile from camp, and split into a V. Clarke, Wells, and I went left around the trees and string of bushes in the middle, and Bellamy and Murphy split left. "Hey, wait up," Bellamy said, coming around the corner across the bushes from me. "What's the rush?" He headed near me holding up his gun and Wells walked over. "Put the gun away Bellamy," he said. Murphy pushed Wells, saying, "Yeah, why don't you do something about it?" We all stopped walking.

"Jasper screamed when they moved him," I said, closest to Bellamy and Wells. "If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. That doesn't mean we have time to waste." I turned and stepped away, but was jerked back by a hand on my wrist. I whipped around. Bellamy held tightly to my wrist, so I couldn't leave. "As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go," he said, smirking. I yanked my arm back. "The only way the Ark is going to think I'm dead, is if I'm dead," I spat. "Got it?"

He took a step towards me and I stepped back. "Brave princess," he mocked.

"Hey why don't you find your own nick name?" Finn walked up, interrupting whatever Bellamy was about to do. "You call this a rescue party? We should split up, cover more ground. Clarke, you're with me." Finn and Clarke began walking and Wells grabbed my arm, pulling me behind him while he glared at Bellamy and Murphy. "Come on, Taylor," he said, urging me to walk, and I did. A while later, Clarke and Finn walked up and over a ridge, while Wells, Bellamy, Murphy and I all walked beside it. Wells kept me a distance in front of him, and I couldn't thank him enough for that.

I didn't know why Bellamy would want my wristband so badly. But he scared the h*ll out of me, the way he 'asked'. I'd be in serious trouble if Finn hadn't shown up when he did. My ears caught voices behind me and I tried to zone in on what was happening behind me. "Guess we got more in common than meets the eye, huh?" Bellamy said. I rolled my eyes. Wells and Bellamy have nothing in common. "We have nothing in common," Wells said, and I smiled.

"No? We both came down here to protect someone we love," Bellamy said. "Your secret's safe with me. Of course, with Finn around, Taylor doesn't even see you. It's like you're not even here." I nearly stopped walking, but I forced myself to move. Me? He did say my name, right? Wells didn't deny it afterward, nor did he agree. That just confused me more. Soon Clarke and Finn disappeared. We'd walked for hours by the time I stopped, panting. "Okay…I need a rest," I said. I sat on a large rock and let out a breath. Wells walked over and sat on a fallen tree next to my rock.

Bellamy and Murphy stayed standing, though. We hadn't been sitting for more than five minutes when Clarke and Finn came running up from the direction we were headed. "Guys, we found a blood trail," Clarke said.

"Why are you two soaking wet?" I asked, standing.

"Long story, come on," Finn said. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the slight hill. Everyone followed behind at different paces until we came to a waterfall that drained into a shallow river. Finn started down the river bed first, then I stepped down and followed. Clarke and Wells came next, then Bellamy and Murphy. We walked down the river for what felt like forever. "Hey, how do we know this is right way?" Murphy asked.

"We don't," Bellamy said. "Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker."

"It's called cutting sign, fourth year Earth skills, he's good," Wells said, behind me. I hurried to catch up to Finn, passing Clarke. "You wanna keep it down? Or should I paint a target on your back?" Finn said, stopping. He grabbed a snapped branch on a small bush and examined it. Then he knelt down, and I did, too. There was a small dribble of blood on a rock. Finn and I exchanged worried glances, then my head snapped up when a loud moaning sound echoed through the trees. It was coming from directly in front of us.

I stood. "What the h*ll was that?" Murphy asked. I glanced at Bellamy. "Now would be a good time to take out that gun," I said, before continuing forward, towards the sound. Finn led the way through the bushes. It was like a pre-carved tunnel of bushes. It opened out into a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing, was Jasper, strung up in a tree. "Jasper…" I gasped. "Oh my g*d, Jasper!" I ran forward to the tree. I didn't even stop walking, and suddenly the ground fell out from underneath me.

I squealed as I fell a few feet, my hand flying up above my head. Suddenly my body jerked to a stop as I felt a strong grip on my wrist. I held on and looked up. Bellamy had a hold of me, being the only thing keeping me from falling onto what looked like spikes. I grabbed onto the edge of the dirt with my other had as I heard shouts like, "Hurry!" and "Pull her up!" Finn, Wells, and Murphy grabbed onto Bellamy and pulled. Then when I was up enough, Finn grabbed my middle and pulled me over the edge.

Clarke was right there, too, helping me out of the hole. Once I was on my feet I quickly stepped back from the edge and glanced at Bellamy, who was glancing at me. I nodded slightly and turned back to Jasper. "We need to get him down," Clarke said.

"I'll climb up there and cut the vines," Finn said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm with you," Wells said.

"No, you stay here with Clarke and Taylor. And watch him. You, let's go," Finn said, walking around to the tree. Murphy sighed and followed Finn. Clarke turned to me. "Are you okay?" she asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up, is all." She nodded and turned back to the tree. Azalea would have a heart attack right now if she were here. "There's a poultice on his wound," Clarke said.

"Medicine?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Why would they save him just to string him up and use him as live bait?" Wells asked.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes his diner still breathing," Bellamy suggested.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us," Finn said. Finn and Murphy worked their way up the tree until they could reach Jasper. They began trying to untie him and I said, "Be careful." A strange noise came from off in the bushes and Clarke and I froze. "What the h*ll was that?" Murphy asked, twisting around in the tree.

"Grounders?" Bellamy said. I squinted to see. A large, black cat came into visibility several yards off in the bushes. I gasped and stepped back, shoulder-to-shoulder with Clarke. It growled as it stocked it's way forward. "Bellamy, gun!" Clarke said, panicked. I turned to look as Bellamy reached for his gun, but found it wasn't there. We shared a confused glance right before a gun shot rang out. I whipped around and saw Wells held the gun, firing at the cat. He hit the cat twice as it bounded forward.

Wells and Clarke were several feet in front of me, whilst Bellamy was closest to my right. The cat continued forward, unwilling to stop. Then it disappeared into the bushes right in front of Bellamy and I. It was quiet, then the cat leapt from the bushes, headed straight for me. A gun shot rang out and it flew to the side, hitting the ground. It's claws had managed to rake over my arm, carving four deep cuts into my forearm. I cried out in pain and grabbed my arm to try and stop the bleeding. Clicking sounds echoed out and I turned. Wells pulled the trigger a few times but he'd emptied the clip already. He then dropped the gun and Bellamy said, "Now she sees you."

"Taylor, you're hurt," Clarke said, rushing forward. She pried my hand off my arm and I audibly winced as a searing pain radiated across my skin. Wells walked over. "What can I do?" he asked Clarke.

"We need water and some strips of cloth to use as bandages," she said.

"I'll go to the river," Wells said, before high tailing it back through the bushes.

"Is she okay?" Finn asked from the tree.

"She will be. It's not too deep to need stitches, but it will take a while to heal completely," Clarke said, now in medical mode. I sat just before Wells came back with a small canteen he'd taken to the river with him. He handed it to Clarke, and then knelt in front of me. Clarke opened the canteen and paused. "This is going to hurt," she said. "A lot. Try not to scream, okay?" I nodded and took a deep breath. As soon as the water barely touched my arm, it stung. It felt as if my arm was being ripped apart bit by bit. I bit my bottom lip, hard. I grabbed into Wells' jacket just to off-set the urge to scream, and it helped.

Once the wound was clean, Clarke used a long strip of cloth from a shirt to wrap around the cuts. She tied it off tightly and stood, walking over to the tree to help Finn, Murphy, and Bellamy pull down Jasper. "You okay?" Wells asked. I realized I was still holding onto his jacket and I let go. "Yeah, it's not as bad now," I said. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"You saved my life. If you hadn't shot it, that thing would have done a lot worse than this," I said.

"Hey, why don't you two get you're a**es over here and help us?" Murphy said, as he struggled to hold up his end of Jasper. I stood and ran over. On the trip back to camp, we took rotations carrying Jasper. We arrived back at camp long after night fall. Clarke led the way in while Wells and Finn took their turn carrying Jasper, and Bellamy and Murphy followed up behind carrying the dead cat. Kids murmured, whispered, and gossiped as we headed to the dropship. Monty and Octavia hurried over before we made it into the dropship. "Is he…" Monty said, unable to finish.

"He's alive," I assured him.

"I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandage," Clarke said. She headed into the dropship followed by Finn and Wells hefting Jasper, and Monty hurried to get the supplied Clarke needed. I stayed out, looking around for Azalea. Bellamy and Murphy unveiled their catch and everyone stared. "Who's hungry?" Bellamy shouted. Cheers echoed up from the crowd. Suddenly, Azalea ran into me and I grabbed her shoulders to keep her upright. "Azalea!" I said.

"Taylor! Is Jasper alive? Is he okay? Where is he?" she rambled, panic in her eyes.

"He's alive, don't worry. Clarke's with him in the dropship," I said. She brushed me off and ran into the dropship. Bellamy and Octavia hugged, Octavia smiling like crazy. Bellamy, Octavia, and Murphy went to cut up the cat and I sighed. I went in to help Clarke and Azalea in the dropship. Clarke gave me a rag and I helped clean some of Jasper's wounds. Once he was bandaged and some-what clean, Clarke and I went to leave the dropship. Clarke continued out, but I noticed Azalea wasn't coming, too. She sat beside Jasper, staring at him. "Azalea? You coming?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm good. You go," she said.

"Okay. I'll bring you back something," I said, and she nodded. I climbed down the ladder and exited the dropship. I walked over to Clarke and Finn, who were staring at something. I saw what they were looking at a second later. There was a long line starting at the main fire. It looked like Bellamy was forcing kids to take off their wristbands for diner. I scoffed. "Seriously?" I asked. "They're taking off their wristbands for food? No way, I won't do it."

"You don't have to," Finn said. He walked past the line, towards the fire, and grabbed one of the sticks with meat on them. Murphy noticed and tried to stop him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. You think you play by different rules?" he asked.

"I thought there were no rules," Finn said, plainly. Murphy just stared. I smirked and walked to the fire. I grabbed one, followed by Clarke. Clarke and Finn sat under a tree to eat, while I walked back into the dropship. I managed to shove something down Azalea's throat, after near an hour of coaxing. She was a wreck of nerves. I fell asleep leaning against the dropship wall, listening to Jasper's moans of pain a few hours later. But I had a feeling that no one would get much sleep tonight.


	4. Chapter Four: Earth Kills

_Chapter Four: Earth Kills_

(Flashback/Dream; Narrative)

_A petite girl with red hair sat at a table in the center of the small room whilst two shorter, younger children—a boy and a girl—ran around it. They each had dark brown hair, each had the same hazel eyes. They laughed as they ran and the red headed girl sighed, putting her book down. "Both of you are going to get us arrested if you don't quiet down," she said. The girl stopped running and gave the red head a look. "Mom said you weren't supposed to say that anymore," she said, crossing her arms. _

"_Taylor, mom's not here," the boy said, stopping his running mid stride. _

"_So?" Taylor asked, shrugging. The red head stood and knelt in front of Taylor. "Come on, Tay, you know I didn't mean it. We're gonna be fine, so don't look at me like that," the red head said. _

"_Felicity, what happens if we get arrested?" Taylor asked. Felicity, being the oldest of the three children, knew this was not a subject to talk to about. But Taylor needed to know what the consequences would be if they got in trouble, that way it wouldn't happen. "Well, you and Sawyer would go to prison until you were eighteen, when the council reviewed your case," Felicity said. _

"_That's it?" Sawyer asked, listening intently. _

"_No…" Felicity said, hesitant. "Mom and dad would have to go away." That was the only way she could think of to tell them easily that their parents would have to die. Any crime committed, when over the age of eighteen, is considered a Capital Crime, punishable by death. Those under eighteen get sent to prison, or the 'Skybox', as the inmates call it. When the under-age criminals turn eighteen, the council decided whether or not their offense was severe enough to sentence them to death. "Why? Where would they go?" Taylor asked._

_As Felicity looked at her fourteen year-old siblings, she felt panicked. She couldn't imagine ever having to lose them, or her parents. Just then, the door opened and several members of the Guard came into the room. Felicity shot to her feet and grabbed Taylor and Sawyer by the arm, pushing them behind her. One guard stepped forward. "Miss James, we're going to have to take these two with us," he said, gesturing to the children. Felicity shook her head feverently right as two guards came behind her and grabbed Taylor then Sawyer. _

"_No! No, you can't take them!" Felicity shouted. She ran at the guards but one of them grabbed her, keeping her from pursuing. Taylor and Sawyer tried to wiggle free from the guards, but their grips were too strong. "Felicity! Help!" Taylor screamed. _

"_Don't let them take us!" Sawyer said. With tears pouring, Felicity kept trying to run after them as her siblings were dragged out the door of the room. "No! Come back! Please!" she shouted, terrified. "No!"_

(Present)

**Taylor's POV**

I woke with a start. Jasper was moaning loudly from the pain, writhing. Azalea held a wet piece of cloth to his forehead while Clarke checked his pulse. I stood and stretched. "I'm gonna go get some air," I said, walking to the ladder.

"Oh shut up!" a kid shouted from downstairs.

"Can't you just die already?" Everyone seemed fed up with Jasper's noises. I rolled my eyes and dropped down to the first level. I walked out, into the cool night air, and took in a deep breath. "No!" a shrill scream echoed out, close by, and I froze. "No…no!" I walked towards the sound and noticed a little girl laying near a tree, asleep. I hurried over to her and shook her gently. She was obviously having a nightmare. "Hey, wake up," I said. She sprung up and stared at me. "It's okay, it's okay," I reassured her. "You're Charlotte, right? I'm Taylor." She scrunched up, pulling her knees into her chest.

"It's okay to scared. Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"It's…my parents. They were floated and I see it in my dreams and I just…" she said.

"Yeah, I understand," I said. "My parents were floated, too." She looked at me and I nodded. "So, how did you end up here?" I asked.

"Well, they were taking my parents' things to the redistribution center and I lost it. They said I assaulted a guard," she said.

"I can't say I blame you," I said. She looked at me, then away, wiping at her nose. I looked up and smiled. "You see that bright star up there?" I asked, pointing up at it. She looked up. "That's the Ark, orbiting above us. I think, whatever happened up there—you know the pain—maybe…we can move past that now. Maybe being on the ground is our second chance."

"Do you really believe that?" she asked.

"I'm trying to," I admitted. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and she leaned into me. I managed to sleep for maybe one whole hour before the sun came up. Everyone was grumbling about Jasper's noise, saying they got no sleep and how tired they were. Some even were talking about killing Jasper and getting it over with. I went back into the dropship to see how things were going. Clarke was taking the poultice off the wound when I entered. "The grounders cauterized the wound…they saved his life," Clarke said. Finn walked over from the corner of the room. "Save his life so they could string his up as live bait," he said.

Then he mumbled something I couldn't hear. "This is infected," Azalea said. "He could be septic." She and Clarke went back and forth, talking about what it could be, and I sighed. "Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark?" I asked, sitting across from Monty and his small work station. Wells came up the ladder onto level two, and Monty was silent, staring at Jasper. "Monty?" He sighed. "That would be a firm no," he said.

"How's he doing?" Wells asked, kneeling by Jasper.

"How does it look like he's doing, Wells?" Clarke snapped.

"Hey," Wells said. "I'm just trying to help." Everyone was quiet and I stood. Finn and I exchanged worried glances, and then looked at Clarke. She looked like she was going to explode any minute. "Alright, you wanna help?" Clarke asked. "Hold him down." Wells and Finn grabbed hold of Jasper's arms and legs while Clarke stuck a knife in a small fire to her right. I winced, knowing this wouldn't be good to watch or listen to. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?" Monty asked. Clarke began cutting away and Jasper screamed loudly. I plugged my ears to try and block out the sound.

Octavia came running in and slid down next to Clarke. "Stop, you're killing him," she said, right as Jasper passed out.

"She's trying to save his life," I said, pulling my fingers out of my ears.

"She can't," Bellamy said, entering the level. Wells stood, right in Bellamy's face and said, "Back off."

"We didn't drag him through miles of woods just to let him die," Azalea said.

"The kid's a goner. If you can't see that, you're diluted. He's making people crazy," Bellamy said.

"Sorry if Jasper is an inconvenience for you," I said, stepping towards him. "But this isn't the Ark. Down here, every life matters."

"Take a look at him. He's a lost cause," Bellamy said. Clarke said something quietly to Octavia and Azalea, and then Bellamy said, "This isn't about hope. It's about guts. You don't have the guts to make the hard choices, I do. He's been like this for three days. If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself." He turned and walked to the ladder. He put his hand on the top rung. "Octavia, let's go," he ordered.

"I'm staying here," she said. He looked at me then shook his head and climbed down the ladder. "Power hungry, self-serving jacka**," Monty said. "He doesn't care about anyone but himself. No offense."

"Yeah, Bellamy is all that," Finn said. "But he happens to be right." Azalea's head snapped up and she stared at him. "Excuse me?" she said. "He is not right. Jasper will be fine, he just needs more time."

"There isn't more time, Azalea," he said.

"We'll make more time," I said. "Bellamy isn't getting anywhere near Jasper, if I have anything to say about it."

"Not you, too," he said, standing. "What if we're just prolonging Jasper's misery?"

"Don't even start with that, Finn," I said, shaking my head.

"He's not-" I ignored him and climbed down the ladder. I refuse to even consider letting Jasper die. If there's a chance to save him, we should take it. End of discussion. I left the dropship and decided to go find Sawyer. As I walked, soon Wells was at my side. "Taylor, I don't think Finn meant what he said to sound the way it did," he said.

"What do you care, anyway?" I asked, looking around for Sawyer. Monroe walked by and I hurried to stop her. "Hey, have you seen Sawyer?" I asked.

"Yeah, he said he was going to go exploring about an hour ago," she said.

"Did he say which way?" I asked.

"North-west," she said. I nodded and picked up the pace, heading in that direction. Wells kept walking with me, and for some reason I found that completely annoying. I stopped, about a mile from camp, and so did he. "Why are you coming with me?" I asked, throwing my arms up in exasperation.

"Because you're my friend and you're p*ssed and you shouldn't be out wondering around alone. You could get lost," he said.

"Or maybe," I said, beginning a stress-fueled rampage. "It's because you can't seem to back off and give me some space. I haven't been able to figure that one out, either. Care to enlighten me?" He looked at me skeptically. "I think you just need more sleep," he said.

"Wells! Enough! Tell me the truth, are we just friends or not?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Where'd you get the idea that we were more than friends?" he asked, playing it cool. But his eyes told me everything, and I felt guilty for snapping at him. How embarrassing it must be for him. "Wells, look, I'm sorry-" Before I could even finish my sentence, Wells was close leaning in like he was going to kiss me, and I froze. I anticipated it, mentally prepared myself, but he didn't actually kiss me. At the last second, he pulled back and turned away. I was awkwardly quiet, not knowing what to say. He sighed and turned toward me. "Sorry," he said. He looked at me for a second, then away at something else.

I felt the irresistible urge to do something, say something, but I didn't know what. The amount of experience I had when being in these kinds of situations with guys was at an all-time low of zero. My lack of knowledge wasn't going to hinder me, though, I decided. I hurried forward and pressed my lips to his, turning his face toward mine with my hand. I could tell he was startled by my newfound boldness, but he wasted no time in resting a hand on my hip and threading the other through my hair. Our lips moved together in sync and I felt butterflies flying around in my stomach.

I wound my arms around his neck, pulling him against me. Honestly, I never thought for one second about kissing Wells in our entire friendship. But now that I was, I couldn't stop thinking about it. When the need for air became too much, I pulled back, breathless. He leaned his forehead into mine and I closed my eyes. "I should go, um…find my brother," I said.

"Yeah, yeah, I should go see if Clarke needs my help," Wells said. Against my body's wishes I pulled away and headed deeper into the trees. I watched Wells leave over my shoulder and then focused on finding Sawyer. I walked into the trees for what felt like hours, with no sign of him. "Sawyer!" I called out, for the millionth and one time. "Where are you?"

**Sawyer's POV**

I came back to camp after an hour of exploring the woods. I mean, Grounder shmounder, I don't see what everyone is worried about. I thought about finding Taylor, but she was probably in the dropship with Jasper, so I didn't go in. A few feet to my right sat Clarke, and standing next to her was Finn. "…you wanna think Jasper's a lost cause, go ahead," she said. "You're wrong."

"I hope I am," he said.

"Whatever this stuff is, It has to have had antibiotic properties," Clarke said. Wells walked over to them from the trees, the same direction I had just come from. "Let me take a look," he said, kneeling down. "And before you refuse my help, just remember who aced botany in Earth Skills."

"The Grounders used it as a Poultice," she said. "But I'm thinking a tea might be more effective if we can figure out what it is." I noticed what they were looking at and I recognized it. So I stepped over in front of them. "That's Seaweed," I said.

"Well, then there must be a water source nearby," Clarke said, looking at Finn.

"Yeah, it'd have to have a slow current, lots of rocks. The water would probably be more red than green," I said.

"I know just the place," Finn said, standing. He hit my arm lightly. "Thanks," he said. "What's your name?"

"Sawyer," I said. Clarke stood. "Right, let's go," she said. Clarke led the way while Finn beginning walking behind her. "You coming?" he asked me. I shrugged. "Got nothing better to do," I said, following. They led the way out of camp, and Finn and I shot the breeze on just about everything to pass the time. We rounded a corner and suddenly Finn stopped at a strange sound. "What is it?" Clarke asked, far ahead. Finn knelt down and moved the dirt, revealing some kind of door. He pulled it open. "Ha," I said. "An automobile."

"Come on guys, this thing's been here a hundred years. It can wait, Jasper can't," Clarke said. I sighed and followed as Finn shut the door. An hour or so later, we made it to the river bed. "So what does this Sea Weed look like?" Clarke asked, as I neared the water.

"Like that," I said, pointing to the red bushes of Sea Weed bobbing in the water. "Hey that thing that bit Azalea, how big was it?"

"Big," Finn said. He dropped his pack and opened it. "We could rig this into some kind of a net. Find something to lower it into the water." Clarke walked past us and started into the water without a word. "Or we could just do that," I said. She grabbed two big bushes and headed back to dry land. Suddenly a large flock of birds started squawking in the sky, drawing all our attentions. They swarmed out of the trees and dive bombed us, causing us all to duck. Once they passed, I said, "Let's get out of here."

Just then, a loud horn blew. "Grounders?" Clarke suggested.

"It could be a war cry," I thought aloud.

"Or a warning," Finn said, looking behind us. Suddenly a large yellow cloud with flashes of what looked like thunder in it came into view and my eyes widened. "What the h*ll is that?" I asked. It started sweeping into the river bed. "Run…" Clarke said. "Run!" We dashed for the trees, running as fast as our legs could carry us. We ran to the automobile in the ground and Finn pulled open the door. We dove inside and sealed the door behind us, but the yellow air was somehow getting in. "Seal all the holes!" I said. We grabbed random articles of clothing and stuffed the ventilation systems with them.

Once the fog stopped getting inside, I let out a breath. "What is that stuff?" I asked.

"I don't know," Clarke said. Finn wiped dirt and dust from a window and looked outside. "It's still out there," he said.

"Look we should just make a run for it. Sitting here isn't going to help Jasper," Clarke said.

"Dying in a cloud of acid fog isn't going to help Jasper," Finn said. He turned back to the wall and started banging on something. Suddenly he pulled off a panel of the wall. "Is that…?" Clarke said.

"Booze," I said. Finn sat down next to Clarke and forced open the lid. "Wait it could be-" Finn gulped down some of the liquid. "Whiskey, I think," he said. He held it out to me and I took the bottle from him. "Taylor would so hate me right now for doing this," I said, before forcing down a swig. The whiskey burned my throat as it went down, but it was a good burn. "How do you know Taylor?" Clarke asked, as I handed her the bottle.

"She's my- uh…she's a family friend," I said, nodding. Finn and Clarke exchanged glances, but didn't say anything more about it. For hours, we all passed around the bottle. Finally Clarke said, "It's been hours."

"Jasper's in good hands. Azalea will take care of him," Finn said.

"While we're on the subject, why is it that everyone thinks that me not wanting Jasper to die, is a bad thing? Like I'm such a downer. I can be fun," Clarke said, pointing at herself. "Yeah. You think I'm fun, right?" Finn gave Clarke a drunken glance. "Oh yeah, among other things," Finn said.

**Azalea's POV**

I sat next to Jasper, and Octavia sat on his other side. It was now night time, and yet no one could sleep. Again. Jasper's cries of pain were just too loud. I didn't want to sleep, though. Echoes of disgruntled kids floated up the ladder, but I tried to block them out. Octavia leaned back against the wall with a sigh, trying to close her eyes. Suddenly Monty came bolting up the ladder, shouting, "Murphy's gonna kill Jasper!" Octavia flew up into a sitting position and my eyes snapped wide.

I got to my feet and hurried to help Monty close the door. Murphy blocked us, so I flung my foot forward, kicking Murphy in the head. He dropped down a few rungs and we quickly shut the door. Monty held the door closed as murphy banged on it from underneath. "Let me in!" he shouted. Monty sat on the door, while I ran to find something to lock it with. I spotted a pipe and grabbed it, prying it off. "No hurry! I'm fine here!" Monty said. Octavia helped me get the pipe. "Got it!" I said. We ran over to the door and slid the pipe through the handle and a bar on the hatch.

**Taylor's POV**

I searched the woods all around camp for hours until it became too dark to look, and then I headed back. But, then the acid fog rolled in and I was forced to ride it out in a cave. It only passed well after dark., just before sunrise. The adrenaline Wells' kiss and the fog left me was soon burned off and now I was plain exhausted. As I made it into camp, I saw Clarke, Finn, and Sawyer walking to the dropship. "Sawyer!" I shouted. I ran to him and threw my arms around his neck. "You're okay. Oh thank g*d."

"What do you mean?" he asked. I stepped back, keeping my arms around him. "What do you mean 'what do you mean'? Monroe said you went exploring, and when I tried to find you, you were gone!" I said.

"I'm sorry, Tay, really. I didn't know you would freak out like this," he said. I caught the scent of something sour and I froze. I inhaled. "Sawyer? Is that alcohol I smell on your breath?" I asked. When he sheepishly looked away my mouth fell open and I stepped back, smacking his arm. "Ow!" he cried, grabbing his arm and turning so I couldn't hit him again. "Where did you get alcohol?" I asked.

"There's a van buried underground. We hid out from the fog there," he said.

"Oh, well, that makes it alright then," I said, sarcastically. Suddenly I heard Bellamy say, "Octavia, stay back!" and I whipped around. By the fire, there was a tarp of sorts, covering an obvious body. Bellamy was trying to prevent Octavia from seeing who it was, but she got through. She pulled back the tarp and my heart sank. It was Atom, a guy Octavia told me she really liked. "Oh my g*d," I said. A minute later she recovered him and stood, then walked passed Bellamy. "O, O," Bellamy tried to stop her.

"Just stop!" she pushed him away and walked past Sawyer and I. "Octavia," I followed after her.

"Just leave me alone, okay?" she snapped, turning around.

"I'm so sorry," I said. Tears were welling up in her eyes already, but then they poured out and she sobbed. I hurried forward and hugged her, and she didn't push me away. She cried into my shoulder and I felt like I was going to cry, too. I didn't know Atom at all, but I felt like I did because of what Octavia had told me. "I need to go check on Jasper," she said, pulling away. Without another word, she passed me and went into the dropship. Wells stood beside me now. "That's rough," he said. I nodded in agreeance. "Hey, uh…could we talk?"

"Sure," I said. I led the way into the trees. At night, it probably wasn't the smartest idea, but we didn't go far. Just to a save, private distance from camp. "Look, Taylor…" Wells began. "What happened earlier…."

"If you are about to apologize, don't. I kissed you, remember? And besides, It's not like it wasn't enjoyable," I said, with a smirk. The hintest of small smiles tugged at the corner of his lips. "You thought it was enjoyable?" he asked. I rose up an inch and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Does that answer your question?" I asked. With a smile, he he cupped my face with his hands and kissed me deeply. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hoped up, winding my legs around his waist. He moved and my back pressed into a tree.

**Azalea's POV**

Jasper was doing much better with the tea Clarke made from the Sea Weed. He wasn't in much pain. When he woke up, I couldn't help but smile. "My guardian angels," he said, looking up at Clarke, Octavia, and I. I laughed lightly and stroked the side of his face. "Don't worry," I said. "We fell from Heaven just for you." Clarke and Octavia laughed, and so did Jasper. With him on the mend, my life was starting to look better.


	5. Chapter Five: Murphy's Law

_Chapter Five: Murphy's Law_

(Flashback; Narrative)

_A scraggily girl with mahogany brown hair about five feet tall peeked her head out of a door and glanced down the hallway. No one was in sight, either way. Then she slid out of the room and shut the door behind her. She quickly and quietly tip-toed her way down the hallway to another room. She looked both ways again, and then pulled something out of her pocket. It was two thin pieces of metal. She slid both into the lock on the door and knelt down, trying to focus while keeping an eye out for anyone passing by. _

_The lock clicked and then she stood, pushing open the door. Inside, she hurriedly made her way to a cabinet on the wall to the right of the door. Voices echoed into the room from the hallway, getting closer by the second. Abort mission, she thought. She shoved what food she could into her pockets and then shut the cabinet door. Then she raced to the front door. As she pulled it open, the owner of the room was walking to it. He froze, not expecting this to happen. "Azalea? What are you doing?" he asked, puzzled. _

_Azalea looked down at her bloating pockets. "You're stealing? Why would you do that?" he asked. _

"_You know my parents; they don't take care of me! All they care about is their pot and their alcohol," she said, trying to justify what she'd done. _

"_How long has this been going on?" he asked. _

"_Um…a few weeks," she said, timidly. He sighed in disappointment and she moved quickly to explain. "Don't worry; I swear I didn't take anything but food. And, plus, I didn't just steal from you the whole time!" she said. She realized what she'd just said and shrinked into her invisible shell. "You know I have to report this, Azalea," he said. _

"_No, please, you can't! I'll pay you back! I will!" she pleaded. _

"_I'm sorry…but that's not how the justice system works. If I don't report this, then there will be holes in the rationing system, obvious ones. They'll figure it out sooner or later," he said. "Come on." He grabbed her arm and pulled her along, down the hall. Her eyes widened in fear and she skidded to a stop. "No! You can't!" she pulled her arm free and bolted in the other direction. "Azalea, come back!" the man shouted, to no avail. She sped down the hall, drifting around the corner. But she immediately stopped just before she could run into two guards. _

_Her eyes were widened once again and she began backing up. "Where are you heading off to so fast?" one guard asked. _

"_Are you okay?" the other asked. One guard was an adult, maybe in his mid-twenties, and the other looked young. Azalea's back hit something hard and she spun around, only to be met by the man's face. He'd chased her. Oh no, she thought. "What's going on here?" the older guard asked. _

"_I caught this girl stealing rations from my house," the man said. Azalea whipped around and tried pleading with the guards not to arrest her. The younger one looked sympathetic as she stated her case, but the older one didn't show much of anything. "Please, you have to understand," Azalea said. "I had to do it! My parents don't let me eat at home. They drink and do drugs and-"_

"_Miss, I'm very sorry, but you're under arrest," the elder guard said. _

"_What? No! Please!" she pleaded. _

"_Come on, man, I'm sure there's something else that can be done," the younger guard said. _

"_No, there isn't," the older guard said, giving a stern look to the younger guard, silently telling him to stop talking. The guard put her in cuffs and led her down the hall. _

(Present)

**Taylor's POV**

While Wells was on watch, I tried to get some sleep in the dropship. I hadn't slept much since landing on Earth, but that night I slept like a baby. I had decided to sleep outside half way through the night, in need of fresh air and the sound of the wild birds. I had only been asleep for five minutes before a shrill scream pulled me from my slumber. I flew up into a sitting position, as did many of us, and looked around. Whoever had previously screamed, screamed again, and this time I stood.

Clarke came out of the dropship and walked over to me. "Who screamed?" she asked. I shook my head. "I have no idea," I replied. They screamed again and I hurried to find the owner. Just outside the gate were a tall brunette girl and a blonde boy. The girl was shaking and the boy looked horror stricken as they stood just down a short hill. "What is it?" I asked, walking around the hill. Without warning, my feet froze and so did my heart. "Oh my g*d." There was a body.

Lying face up on the side of the small hill several feet away. The dark skin gave it away and immediately I knew who it was. "Wells…Wells!" My feet couldn't move fast enough as I sprinted to him, skidding to my knees to frantically check for a pulse. But it was obvious he'd bed dead for a while. "No, no, no, no, no. Wells!" Clarke ran over looking as heartbroken as I felt. A wave of gut-wrenching pain washed over me and I suddenly felt as if I were drowning. I couldn't breathe. I had only just seen Wells alive hours ago, how could he be dead? There was a deep cut in the side of his neck.

Someone had stabbed him. I slumped back onto the ground, feeling numb. My cheeks felt wet all of the sudden and I realized I was crying. Not like the typical sobbing girl that you would expect me to be, but the silent tears type of crying. The crying where your body is screaming but your mouth can't form the words. I couldn't stand to look at his body any longer, so I stood and quickly made my way past the newly formed crowd, into camp. It was just past sunrise. So someone would have to have done it last night.

I shook the thoughts from my head as I hurriedly walked through camp and out the other side.

**Sawyer's POV**

The events of the week were shocking. I mean, I knew pretty much everybody down here hated Wells. But he was a good guy, and somebody killed him. After burying Wells, I hadn't seen much of Taylor as I started to help build the wall around camp. Today, my friend and I were carrying a heavy log across to the wall, when he dropped his end, falling to his knees from exhaustion. "Hey!" Murphy shouted, beginning to walk over. "You think the Grounders are just gonna sit around and wait for us to finish the wall? Maybe we should let the little girl do the lifting for you."

"Hey, man, back off," I said, putting down my end. Murphy turned to me with disgust in his eyes. "Oh yeah? And who are you?" he asked.

"Someone who's not gonna take your bullsh*t, Murphy," I said. He took a step towards me and I stepped towards him. He looked surprised that I didn't back down, but he pressed on. "Let's just all sit around and sing cumbia! I mean, who cares if the Grounders attack, right?" Murphy said.

"I just need some water, okay? Then I'll be fine," my friend said. Bellamy walked over and stood beside Murphy. "Murphy, get this guy some water," he said to Murphy. Then he turned to Charlotte. "Hey, you got this?" He gestured to the other end of the log and she stopped doing what she was doing to come over and help. But Bellamy moved forward and stopped her. "I'm just kidding," he said to her. She smiled, like he wasn't a total a**. And I nearly lost my cookies. Bellamy grabbed the other end and helped me carry it over to the wall.

We worked hard, but the section of the wall wasn't complete. For a few hours, it was solid working. But me and a couple friends went for a water break. Murphy came over and knocked a cup out of some poor kid's hand. "No water until this section is up!" he said. Suddenly Clarke came shoving in between Mbege and the kid, then pushed Murphy back, shouting, "You son of a b***h!" Murphy stumbled back chuckling a little. "Whoa, what's your problem?"

"Recognize this?" Clarke held up a make shift knife.

"That's my knife, where'd you find it?" he tried to take it but she pulled it form his reach. "From where you dropped it after you killed Wells," Clarke said. He froze for a minute in utter confusion, and suddenly my ears perked up. Taylor had told me about her and Wells being together. Knowing this pr*ck killed him made my blood boil. "Where I _what_?" Murphy said, puzzled. "The Grounders killed Wells, not me." A crowd began to form and I prepare myself for the chance for my fists to have a chat with Murphy's face. "I know what you did," Clarke said. "And you're gonna pay for it."

"Really," Murphy said, unamused. "Bellamy, you really believe this c**p?" I glanced at Bellamy, and did not look happy. Bellamy remained silent and Clarke let into him. "You threatened to kill him, we all heard you. You hated Wells," she said.

"Plenty of people hated Wells," Murphy argued calmly. ""His father was the Chancellor who locked us up."

"Yeah, but you're the only one who got in a knife fight with him!" Clarke said.

"Yeah, I didn't kill him then, either," he said.

"Tried to kill Jasper, too," Octavia said, from where she stood beside Bellamy. Something moved in the corner of my eye and I glanced in that direction. Taylor shoved her way through to just past Bellamy. Her eyes were visibly red, her cheeks tear stained. She watched Murphy and Clarke with a blank expression. Murphy backed up a bit, looking around. "This is ridiculous, I don't have to answer to you, I don't have to answer to anyone," he said.

"Come again?" Bellamy said. Murphy froze. "Bellamy," he said, walking towards him. "I'm telling you, man, I didn't do this."

"They found his fingers on the ground with your knife," Bellamy said. I was shocked when Taylor spoke up. "Is this the kind of society that we want? You say that there should be no rules, does that mean that we can kill each other without…without punishment?" She looked around at the crowd as she spoke, like she deeply believed in what she was saying. I hadn't ever seen this Taylor before, and it kind of awesome. "I already told you, I didn't kill anyone," Murphy said.

"I say we float him," a kid said in the crowd. And multiple others agreed with varying "Yeah!"s. "That's not what I'm saying," Taylor said.

"Why not? He deserves to be, it's justice," the same kid in the crowd said.

"Revenge isn't justice," Clarke said.

"It's justice!" Then the entire crowd started chanting, "Float him! Float him! Float him!" Murphy tried to run as the chants grew louder, but someone tripped him and he dove to the ground. Random kids began kicking him and beating him. It was chaos. I shoved my way through and grabbed Taylor, pulling her back form the mess. Clarke was stuck in the sea and Octavia tried to jump in, but Bellamy pulled her back. The kids grabbed Murphy and gagged him, then threw him down a hill. "You stay put!" I told Taylor, shouting over the noise to hear myself.

I ran after them as Clarke shouted, "You can't do this!" Some kid threw a line over a branch. There wasn't anything to do but watch as they pulled Murphy high up and set up a hanging tree. Suddenly I heard Taylor's voice form close by. "You can stop this! They'll listen to you!" She was screaming at Bellamy, who was just watching. "Bellamy, you should do it!" some kid said.

Then started a chant through the crowd, "Bellamy! Bellamy! Bellamy!" I grabbed Taylor and pulled her to the side, and she thrashed against me. Clarke came up to Bellamy, her turn to try, I guess. "I saw what you did with Atom, I know you're not a killer!" she said. Bellamy walked up to the stool and Taylor ripped form my grasp, running after him. "No! Don't!" she said. Bellamy ignored her, pushed her back even, and kicked the stool out from underneath Murphy's feet. "No!" Taylor screamed. Bellamy whipped around and got close to her. "This is on you, Princess! You should've kept your mouth shut!"

I shoved some kids out of the way and pulled Taylor behind me, getting in between her and Bellamy. "You keep your hands off her!" I said.

"Cut him down!" Finn came running into the crowd, always the only late one to the event. He ran to Charlotte. "Charlotte! Get out of here, now!" he sent her off and then came over to us. "Cut him down now!" One kid pulled a knife and threatened to hurt Finn, and then a scream echoed out, "No! Just stop okay! Murphy didn't kill Wells!" everyone slowly stopped, everyone turning to Charlotte. Taylor twisted and stared at her. "I did!" Charlotte yelled. Clarke and Finn immediately cut Murphy down. Then Clarke, Finn, Bellamy, and even Taylor grabbed Charlotte and pulled her into a tent.

**Taylor's POV**

"Why Charlotte?" Bellamy asked.

"Because I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me," she said.

"What the h*ll is she talking about, Bellamy?" Clarke asked. But I knew what she meant. Her demon was the thing giving her nightmares—Chancellor Jaha. And Wells was Jaha's son. So no matter what she did she saw the Chancellor, up there and down here. "She misunderstood me," Bellamy said, then turned to Charlotte. "Charlotte, that is not what I meant."

"Bring the girl out, NOW!" Murphy shouted, from outside.

"Please don't let them hurt me!" Charlotte pleaded.

"If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up," Bellamy said, turning to Finn, Clarke, and I. Part of me, the evil part of me, wanted to just give her over to Murphy. She killed Wells. And for what? To stop nightmares? In my mind, killing someone would only cause more nightmares. "Taylor? Any ideas?" I glanced up and saw everyone was looking at me.

"I know this can't be easy," Clarke said, quietly, giving me a sympathetic look. "But we really need your brain right now."

"Now you stay quiet," Bellamy said, gesturing towards me.

"Those are your boys out there," Finn said.

"This is not my fault," Bellamy defended. "If she'd listened to me, those idiots would still be building the wall." Clarke ran a hand over her forehead, trying to think amidst the noise of them arguing. All I could do was stare at Charlotte. A little girl took the only person besides my siblings that I loved away from me. "You wanna build a society, Princess?" Murphy shouted outside. "Let's build a society! Bring her out!"

"No! please, Bellamy," Charlotte pleaded. Bellamy bent down and put hands on both her shoulders. "Charlotte, hey, everything's gonna be okay, just…stay with them," he said, turning to look at us. Then he ducked out of the tent and I crossed my arms. "Now what?" Clarke asked.

"We run," I said. Get her as far away from here as we can."

"I now a place. C'mon," Finn said. HE ran to the backside of the tent and held open the flap. I grabbed Charlotte's wrist and pulled her out behind me as I exited, with Clarke quick on our heels. As we got to the wall of camp, I heard Murphy scream, "Charlotte! Charlotte, I know you can hear me! And when I find you, you are gonna pay!" We squeezed through the gate and broke into a run. But, a thought came to mind a I stopped, turning to look back at the wall. My brother was still there. Azalea was still there, and so was Octavia. What if Sawyer acted out and Murphy decided to punish him?

Finn grabbed my arm and forced me to move. "They'll be fine, let's go," he said, as if he'd read my mind. My worry didn't stop as I ran. It became worse. But I tried to swallow it down and focus on keeping Charlotte safe. We got about a mile from camp and slowed to a fast walk. Finn and Clarke led the way while I followed up behind with Charlotte. "It's gonna be night soon, Finn. Where are we going?" Clarke asked. "At least, tell me you have a plan and you're not wandering aimlessly through the woods."

"I have a plan," he said. Suddenly, Charlotte tried to take my hand and I yanked my arm away, stopping all of us. "What the h*ll do you think you're doing?" I snapped, staring her down. "Just because we saved you, doesn't mean you're forgiven. Got it?" She stared at me in fear. "Taylor," Finn said. I spun. "What?" I asked.

"She's just a kid," he said. After he said that, something inside me snapped. "She's a killer!" I said, and then turned to her. "You killed someone Charlotte, someone I loved—ended his life. Did you stop to think about that for even one second? Look at me! You can't just kill someone to make yourself feel better!" She looked like she was going to cry and then suddenly "Charlotte!" came echoing through the trees, carrying Murphy's voice. Finn pointed in that direction. "We should run," Clarke said.

"Yeah, that's one way to go. I like my plan better," Finn said. He knelt and grabbed onto a handle in the ground, then yanked open a door. "Get in." Clarke practically shoved Charlotte into the hole, and then climbed in herself. I wasn't that willing. "Taylor, come on," Finn urged.

"I can't…I can't go in there with her," I said, my voice trembling.

"You don't have a lot of other options right now," he said.

"Charlotte!" Murphy screamed, a distance away. I sighed and climbed down into the hole, against my better judgment. After we were all in, Finn shut the door behind us, and everything went black. There was a short shuffling noise and then a light flicked on in Clarke's hands, casting shadows on her face in odd places. She shown the light on different things inside the room we were in. And Finn turned on a light of his own as we headed deeper in. "Finn, what is this place?" I asked.

"For now, it's…home," he said, with a short shrug. Finn and Clarke worked on lighting candles and getting a good lighting set up, while I looked around. I wanted to stay as far away from Charlotte as possible. That little girl may be just that—little—but she's a murder. If I gave her nightmares, would she kill me, too? After a while and went back to the main room and found Finn was pulling a blanket over a sleeping Charlotte. I was disgusted, but I held my tongue. "I can't believe you kept this place quiet," I said, quietly.

"What was the point of telling anybody?" Finn asked.

"Some of this stuff could be useful," I said.

"Like what? There's no weapons. All the food expired, like, ninety years ago," he said.

"Yeah, but we could repurpose. Share with the group," I said.

"You can share this with the group, if you'd like," he said, holding out a jar of different colored pens and pencils. I pulled a few out, one-by-one, and examined them. Finn chuckled lightly and sat on the couch to my right, next to Clarke. "So what'd you find?" he asked her. She held up a picture and showed it to him. "Looks like they never made it here," she said.

"No, I figure the bombs took 'em by surprise," Finn said. "All this preparation…what a waste."

"I don't know…" I said. "Maybe they were lucky. They couldn't have lived more than a few years down here, and then when they ran out of food or lost their minds they would have opened the doors and been dead within a few days. Back then, maybe sooner."

"What are we gonna do about her?" Clarke asked, looking over at Charlotte, who had her back to us. "If I hadn't of confronted Murphy, none of this would've happened."

"How could you know it'd go down like that?" Finn said.

"Bellamy knew," I said, remembering the conversation. "We think the Grounders are a threat. Now we're killing each other?"

"There have to be consequences," Clarke said, as Finn sighed.

"We can't just let him hang people," Finn said.

"Hopefully we figure it out before Murphy kills us for helping her," I said. "He's not the 'forgive and forget' type." I glanced at Charlotte and sighed. She was a sweet girl, if you can get past the killing part. "I'm gonna go sleep somewhere else," I said, walking to the hallway. I found a small room a few feet away that housed another couch. I stretched out on it and closed my eyes. I was asleep for less than an hour when I felt hands shaking me. I bolted up and swung my legs off the side. "What?" I asked, not even fully knowing who woke me. It was Clarke. "Charlotte's gone. We have to go get her before she gets herself killed," she said.

I jumped up and hurried to the ladder, where Finn was waiting. They bolted up the ladder and I followed behind, closing the door behind us. "She couldn't have gone far," Clarke said, as we tore through the bushes. Suddenly we stopped and Finn shown a light on the ground. "Someone else was here," he said, looking at boot prints on the ground. Then screams sounding like Charlotte echoed, "No! Murphy!"

"Murphy has her," Clarke said. We hurried to run in the direction of the screams. As we ran, light became visible in the distance. And so did voices. I ran past Clarke and Finn and pushed through the tall bushes. Bellamy was with Charlotte, near the edge of a cliff. Murphy and his posse had torches, standing a few feet in front of them. "Bellamy! Stop!" I shouted, getting in between Murphy and Bellamy. I turned to Murphy as Finn and Clarke came into view behind him. "This has gone too far. Just calm down, we'll talk about this."

Murphy was quiet for a long minute. Then he lurched forward, spinning me around. My back pressed against his front and he held a knife to my throat. I gasped. "I'm sick of listening to you talk," he said, near my face.

"Let her go!" Finn yelled. "Let her go." Murphy turned us around, causing the blade to dig into my skin. "I will slit her throat," Murphy warned.

"No please! Please don't hurt her," Charlotte said. Murphy turned us so he could see her. "Don't hurt her?" Murphy said. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now, I will let her go." One look at her and I knew what she was thinking. I looked her in the eye and carefully shook my head. "Don't do it, Charlotte," I said, my voice wincing at the end from the blade cutting into me. She was still for a second before walking forward. Bellamy grabbed her and she fought him. "Don't do it Charlotte!" I said, louder.

"No! No! I have to!" Charlotte screamed. Bellamy got her to hold still, and then turned to Murphy. "Murphy, this is not happening," he said.

"I can't let anyone of you get hurt anymore," Charlotte said. "Not because of me. Not after what I did." She turned, heading for the edge. "Charlotte!" I screamed, pushing free of Murphy.

"No!" Bellamy screamed, as she went over the edge. I knelt down at the edge, watching her fall into the darkness below and Bellamy knelt beside me, also watching. "No, no, no, no!" Clarke was standing next to me, crying. Bellamy slowly disappeared from my side, and I twisted around just in time to see him ram into Murphy. I shot to my feet as Bellamy began pounding his fists into Murphy's face. "Bellamy, stop! You'll kill him!" I shouted. Finn wrestled Bellamy off of Murphy, while Bellamy shouted, "Get off me!" I quickly jumped in front of him before he could lunge forward again. "He deserves to die!" Bellamy shouted.

"No! We don't decide who lives and dies, not down here!" I shouted.

"So help me god, if you say that the people have a right to decide, I will-"

"No, no!" I cut him off. "I was wrong before, okay? You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by 'whatever the h*ll we want'. We need rules."

"And who makes those rules, huh, you?" he asked.

"For now, we make the rules," I said, glancing around at Clarke and Finn, and then settling my eyes on Bellamy. "Okay?"

"So, what then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened?" Bellamy asked, still sounding extremely angry and hurt.

"No!" I shouted. I glanced back at Murphy lying on the ground, bloodied and beaten. "We banish him." Bellamy glanced at Finn and Clarke, then back at me. He then grabbed Murphy by his jacket, "Get up!" He pulled him to the edge of the cliff. "Bellamy!" I yelled. "Stop!" He said something to Murphy that I couldn't hear, and then threw him to the ground. "As for the four of you," Bellamy said, addressing Murphy's posse. "You can either come back to camp and follow me, or go off with him to die. Your choice." Then he stomped off into the trees.

I shook my head and, against my better judgment, followed after him. He walked so fast I could hardly catch up. I had to jog. "Bellamy! Bellamy, wait-" He suddenly spun on me and got in my face. "This is all your fault, Princess!" he yelled. "I told you it was a bad idea, and you and Clarke did it anyway. And now Charlotte's dead. Are you happy?"

"You think I wanted her dead? No! I wanted Wells's killer brought to justice!" I defended.

"Well, you got your justice," he said.

"She killed the man I love, why are you so attached to her?" I asked. "She ruined my life as much as I just ruined yours, if not more. I should be the one who's angry."

"So why aren't you, huh?" he asked. "Why don't you go ahead and scream like I know you're dying to?"

"Because I can't, Bellamy! I have to be strong so that those that I care about still alive, will feel strong themselves," I said. "Earth is not a place to be weak. I learned that the hard way, and it looks like you did, too." Clarke, Finn, and the four kids that followed Murphy walked past and I went with them. Back at camp, Clarke and Bellamy told everyone else what had happened. I went to find Sawyer while they drug out the story. He ran at me, at full speed, and quickly wrapped me in a hug. "Hey," I said.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pulling back to look at me. I nodded. "Yeah, I think so," I said. I told me everything. How we took Charlotte to the underground bunker, how I snapped at her and nearly made her cry, that she ran off and when we went to find her we ran into Murphy and Bellamy. I told him that Charlotte jumped while Murphy held a knife to my throat. As I said so, he looked down at my neck. His hand shot to my throat and I felt a stinging. "It's bleeding," he said. "You should have Clarke look at that."

"Yeah, I'll just get right on th-" Suddenly both of us shot backwards and held our wrists. A snapping burn seared my wrist on which the wristband clamped on. "Ow!" Sawyer cried.

"I think it's just the moisture," I said.

"Yeah, probably," he said. Bellamy walked over to us and looked only at Sawyer. "I need to talk to you," he said. "Now."

"Sure," I said. "I was done with him anyway." I pressed three fingers to the stinging, bleeding cut on my next and headed to the dropship to find Clarke.


	6. Chapter Six: Twilight's Last Gleaming

_Chapter Six: Twilight's Last Gleaming_

**Felicity's POV**

It had hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn't seen it coming. And yet, there it was, ready to hit some unsuspecting version of myself while I ate lunch with my friends Karlie and Rossa. "You know, there are rumors going around about the sighted launch," Rossa had said.

"Yeah, Felicity, people are saying that the Chancellor sent a hundred prisoners to Earth," Karlie said, looking at me expectantly. Normally I would chip in on the gossip. But my brother and sister are both prisoners that, if in fact the Chancellor sent a ship down, would have gone, too. "W-w-what?" I stuttered. Rossa and Karlie both looked at me, only Karlie looked sympathetic. "Is that even true?"

"I don't know," Rossa shrugged. "But, Stephen Jenson—he works in Engineering—told Cindi Haynes that the sighting was real."

"It hasn't been confirmed yet if they really sent them to Earth," Karlie assured me, resting her hand on top of mine. I pulled my hands into my lap and sat back. My brother and sister could be on Earth right now. Why hadn't I heard of this before? They're only seventeen! "It's nothing to freak out about," Rossa said. "Oh, and I heard that Glass was pardoned."

"I heard that, too," Karlie said. They talked back and forth while I sat silently. How could they be so easy-going about this? A hundred kids, sent down to Earth. They could be dead by now. At that thought, tears came to my eyes. I couldn't lose them, too, not after mom and dad. "Oh…Felicity," Karlie said. "I'm so sorry, Rossa you're such and idiot." Karlie stood and pulled me from my chair. "Come on," she said, leading me into the next room. She sat me down on the bed in the corner and knelt in front of me. "Don't worry, okay? They'll be okay," she said.

"How do you know that? Taylor doesn't know the first thing about self-defense. And Sawyer—oh, don't even get me started," I said.

"You know Azalea Lake; she lived just down the hall from me?" Karlie asked. I nodded slowly, now completely confused. "When she was arrested, one of the trainee Guards tried to help her. His name was Bellamy Blake. His sister was arrested and his mother was floated. And you know what? I heard from Glass the other day, and she told me that he made it onto the ship before they sent it out. He's the one who shot the Chancellor, to protect his sister."

"Oh, great," I said, wiping my tears away. "That makes me feel better. Now I know that a killer is down there with my brother and sister."

"No, no, Felicity. If there is anyone that can survive down there it's Taylor, why? Because she'd do anything to protect Sawyer, just like Bellamy did everything he could to protect his sister," she said.

"But who's gonna protect _her_?"

**Taylor's POV**

Loud hollers and hands shaking me woke me out of my deep slumber. "Tay! Wake up! You have to see this!" I rolled over and found Octavia staring at me with bright eyes. "What is it?" I asked, feeling the makeshift bandage on my neck.

"Something fell from the sky, come on!" she literally dragged me to my feet and pushed me out of the tent. She pointed and I saw the bright flame, flying across the sky, barreling towards the trees to the right. "Bellamy, get out here!" Octavia shouted, as I stared. A minute later, Bellamy staggered out of his tent, shirtless. A thought dawned on me and I quickly checked my clothes. I was still wearing pants, but my shirt was a tight tank top that showed more cleavage than desired.

Octavia pointed, totally excited. Kids gathered quickly to watch as a parachute flew out of the back of the ship. "They're coming to help us!" someone said.

"Now we can kick some Grounder a**," another kid said. Everyone cheered in agreeance. "Please tell me they brought some shampoo," a girl next to Bellamy said, and I rolled my eyes. I turned around and headed back into the tent, and pulled my outer shirt on. I pulled on my boots and my jacket then joined Bellamy and another kid that I hadn't learned the name of inside another tent, who were planning out where the ship landed on a map. "If they cleared the ridge, it's probably near the lake," the kid said.

Octavia popped in beside me. "We should get moving, everyone's ready," she said.

"No one's going anywhere," Bellamy said. "Not while it's dark, it isn't safe. We'll head out at first light, pass the word." Another kid in the tent nodded and headed out. "Bellamy, are you kidding? What if the Grounders get their first?" I asked. He glanced up and gave me an annoyed look, then went back to looking at his map. He moved to leave the tent but Octavia moved in front of him, blocking him. "Everyone within a hundred miles saw this thing come down, what if the Grounders get to it first?" she said.

She was only repeating me, but he listened to her, which made me furious. "Bellamy, we should go _now_," I said.

"I said we wait until sunrise," he said, not making eye contact with me. He then left the tent, and I sighed frustratedly. I looked at Octavia and she looked annoyed. Then she left as well. I followed her out just in time to spot Finn and Clarke walking in the gate. Clarke wasn't going to be happy with Bellamy's idea to wait until morning. They stopped to talk to someone, and then Clarke made a B-line for Bellamy's tent. I hurried after her, ahead of Finn. Clarke barged into the tent and I slid in behind her. A tall girl wearing nothing but a bra and underwear quickly grabbed something to cover herself. "Ever hear of knocking, b***h?" she said.

Finn came in and I winced. "Oh great, now it's a free show, anyone else wanna take a look?" the girl said.

"Where the h*ll is Bellamy?" Clarke asked.

"He took off a while ago," the girl said.

"Gear's gone," Finn said.

"He told everyone to stay. Whatever's in that thing, he wants it," I said.

"We've gotta get there before he does," Clarke said, slipping out of the tent. I quickly followed her out and Finn came out behind me. I stopped off at my tent to grab a pack, and then followed Finn and Clarke to the gate. "This isn't your fault, Clarke," Finn said.

"I should've known he'd go for that radio," she said.

"How would you know something like that?" he asked.

"Because he's spent every single minute since we landed making sure no one on the Ark knows we're alive," she said. They turned to stop off somewhere and I kept walking to the gate. Clarke was such a drama queen, and yet everyone called _me_ Princess. I rolled my eyes at the thought. Then I thought of something else. Why would Bellamy want what's in that ship? Unless there was a radio…but, then why would he want the radio? I think a better question is: what did he do to get down here in the first place?

Clarke and Finn rejoined me at the gate and we slipped out. We high tailed it in the direction of the ship. By the time we got anywhere near it, it was broad daylight. "Do you think we should split?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah," Finn said. "You two go that way; I'll meet you at the bottom."

"Okay," Clarke said. Clarke and I turned right and ran down the steady slope, through the trees. We ran until we made it to a small clearing. In the clearing was the ship. Clarke hurried to pull open the door. She froze and gasped. "Oh my g*d," she said. I frowned. "What is it?" I asked, behind her.

"Hi. I made it?" I heard a female voice form inside and my eyes went wide. There was someone in it? Clarke helped the girl out of the ship and the girl took off her space gear. She had dark hair and tan skin, and she was tall and petite. She was obviously awestruck at her surroundings, as she held out her arms and twirled slowly. "I dreamed it would smell like this," she said, in awe. "Is this rain?" She stopped and looked at Clarke and I. Clarke nodded. "Welcome home," I said. Suddenly Finn came around the corner of the bushes. "Raven!" he called, running forward.

"Finn!" she said, running forward to meet him. They embraced and I glanced at Clarke. Her face was slowly turning sour. "Are you okay?" I asked, quietly.

"Yeah…I'm fine," she said, dismissively. Finn walked over to us after sitting Raven down on a large rock. "I'm sorry," he said to Clarke.

"Let's not talk about this," she said.

"We've known each other our whole life," he said.

"We don't need to talk about it, she needs to put pressure on the wound," Clarke said, as they both walked over to Raven. I was incredibly confused. But it was also kind of obvious. It would seem as though Clarke and Finn had a thing going, and apparently he already had a thing with Raven. I shook my head with a sigh and walked over. "This is Clarke, she was on the dropship, too," Finn introduced. "Oh, and this is Taylor."

"Clarke?" Raven said, standing. "This was all because of your mom."

"My mom?" Clarke asked.

"This was all her plan. We were planning to come down here together, but we waited and…oh my g*d. We couldn't wait because the council was voting on whether or not to kill three hundred people to save air," Raven remembered.

"When?" I asked.

"Today. We have to tell them you're alive!" Raven ran to the ship she'd come down in and I hurried after her. She bent into the door of the ship. "The radio's gone," she said. "It must've gotten loose during re-entry."

"No, no, this is my fault," Clarke said. "Someone got here before us. We have to find him." Bellamy stole the radio. "That idiot!" I said, breaking into a run. Everyone followed far behind as I tore back up the hill. He was not going to get away with this. I spotted him walking in the other direction and I'd finally caught up to him. "Hey!" I called. I grabbed his shoulder. "Where is it?"

"Hey, Princess, you taking a walk in the woods?" he said, sarcastically.

"They're getting ready to kill three hundred people up there to save oxygen. And I can guarantee to it won't be council members. It'll be working people, _your_ people," I said, stabbing my finger into his chest.

"Bellamy," Finn jumped in beside me, shoving Bellamy in the chest. "Where's the radio?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Bellamy said, shoving Finn back.

"Bellamy Blake?" Raven asked, joining the party. "They're looking everywhere for you."

"Shut up," Bellamy told her.

"Looking for him why?" Clarke asked.

"He shot Chancellor Jaha," Raven said. I stared at Bellamy with daggers. Sure, Jaha wasn't the nicest guy to some people just because he was Chancellor. But he really was a good guy, just like Wells. I liked him. Everyone stared at Bellamy now. "That's why you took the wristbands," I said. "Needed everyone to think we're dead."

"All that 'whatever the hell we want'…you just care about saving your own skin," Finn said. Bellamy started walking away, but Raven followed closely, trying to get in front of him. "Hey, shooter!" she said. "Where's my radio?"

"Get out of my way," Bellamy demanded.

"Where is it?" she asked.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance," he said.

"Really, well I'm right here," she said, tauntingly. Bellamy grabbed her by her jacket collar and shoved her against the tree behind her. He held his hand on her throat and she sprung a knife. "Where's my radio?" she asked.

"Okay, stop it," I said. They were frozen for a moment, and then both of them backed off. "Jaha deserved to die, you all know that," Bellamy said, walking away.

"Yeah, he's not my favorite person either," Raven said, and Bellamy stopped, turning around. "But he isn't dead."

"What?" Bellamy asked.

"You're a lousy shot," Raven said. Bellamy looked shocked. I walked forward to him. "Bellamy, don't you see what this means? You're not a murderer. You always did what you had to do to protect your sister, _that's_ who you are," I said. "And you can do it again, by protecting three hundred of your people. Where's the radio?" He was quiet a second as he stared at me. "It's too late," he said, quietly.

After going back to camp and getting some recruits, Bellamy led us to the river, where he'd tossed the radio. We searched for what felt like hours. I sighed as I stood on the bank, next to Bellamy, who was knelt on the ground. "Hey, I found it!" someone shouted. Raven went running over and I glanced at Bellamy before joining her. Raven grabbed the radio and Clarke, Finn, Bellamy, and I all met her by the side of the river. She looked it over, shaking her head. "Can you fix it?" Clarke asked.

"Maybe, but it'll take half the day just to dry out to the components to see what's broken," Raven said. I was immediately panicked. My sister was still up there. What if she was one of the people being sacrificed? "Like I said, it's too late," Bellamy said, with crossed arms. I marched forward and got in his face. "Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?" I asked, angrily.

"You asked me to help. I helped," he said.

"Three hundred people are gonna die today, because of you!" I said.

"Hold up," Raven said. "We don't have to talk to the Ark; we just have to let them know we're down here, right?" I turned around. "Yeah, but, how do we do that with no radio?" Finn asked. Raven smirked and I had a feeling all hope wasn't lost just yet.

**Sawyer's POV**

I helped Finn carry a heavy box away from the ship while Raven spouted off orders. "We need to launch those flairs ASAP if we have any hope of saving those people," she said. She walked by Finn and I saying, "Finn, get that control panel to camp." Taylor walked past us with some wiring. "Put your a**es into it, guys," she said, patting my shoulder.

"Yeah, Taylor, like I'm not already doing that," I said, sarcastically. She shook her head with a smirk and Finn gave me a look. We hefted the box through the woods a while before he said anything. "What's the deal with you and Taylor?" he asked. "You two seem pretty close."

"Yeah, well, we, uh, grew up together," I said, sounding a bit awkward.

"It looks a lot more serious to me," he said. I shook my head. "Oh, no, trust me. We're just friends."

**Taylor's POV**

It was after dark by the time things were really getting going at camp. We set up launch-pad-like beams and set up the large flairs. They were more like rockets than flairs. Everyone worked as fast as they could to get the wiring set up for the charges. Then some kids put the flairs in place. Then everyone gathered for the launch in a crowd. The flairs burst off the stand, high into the sky. They shined a bright pink-ish purpled colored as they did. As they flew into the sky, I thought of my sister. I prayed a silent prayer to whatever god was listening. _Please save her_, I mentally pleaded. _Don't let it be too late_.

As they exploded in the sky, Bellamy moved through the crowd and stood next to me. Sawyer was on my right, next to Clare. I glanced at him for a second before looking back up at the brilliant show of color. "Do you think they can see it from up there?" Bellamy asked.

"I don't know," I said. "I hope so. Can you wish on this kind of shooting star?" He gave me an odd look and I sighed. "Forget it," I said, quietly, looking back up at the sky.

"I wouldn't even know what to wish for," he said. "What about you?" I looked immediately over at my brother. I'd wish for them to be safe, my siblings. For nothing to ever happen to them ever again. That's what I'd wish for.

**Azalea's POV**

I watched the flairs light up in the sky next to Jasper and Monty. Everyone cheered in their own way, and I joined in. I hoped we could save those people. But I didn't know for sure if it was possible. "They look so cool," I said to Jasper. He glanced at me, then at them in the sky. "Yeah," he agreed. "They're so bright."

"You think they'll see them?" Monty asked.

"They should be close enough," I said. We were all quiet as we watched then. I glanced at Jasper. The light made his face glow, enhancing the features I love so much. He glanced at me and I smiled shyly, looking away. He chuckled lightly, smiling shyly as well. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, in a wild and crazy thought in my head that I was brave. At first, he just stared at me. But then he leaned forward and kissed my lips. All the other people, all the noise, all the lights, just melted away and it was only us standing there.

I thought I heard Monty say something but I ignored him, too wrapped up in the moment to care.


	7. Chapter Seven: His Sister's Keeper

_Chapter Seven: His Sister's Keeper_

**Taylor's POV**

In the middle of the night, I woke up to the sound of the tent flap being flung open. Bellamy looked inside, holding a torch. "Taylor, have you seen Octavia?" he asked. I looked over to her sleeping bag. It was empty. "She was here when I fell asleep. Is she missing?" I asked, standing. He left without saying a word and I quickly pulled on my jacket, following him out. He hurried down the line of tents, checking each one, until he came to Clarke's. She was awake already, sitting at the door of the tent. "You're up?" he asked.

"Knowing that three hundred people could be dying on the Ark makes it kind of hard to sleep," she replied, dully.

"Raven's flairs will work," I said, trying to assure Clarke. Although, I wasn't that sure myself. She just gave me a bitter glance before turning back to Bellamy. "That radio would've worked better," she said.

"Have you seen Octavia?" Bellamy asked, becoming impatient.

"No, I mean, it's Octavia. She's probably chasing butterflies," Clarke said.

"Clarke, I've checked the camp, she's not here," he said. He sounded genuinely worried for Octavia, and it was strange hearing that from him. "Okay, I'll help you find her," Clarke said. They started walking away and I sighed, rolling my eyes as I followed. Now they were both ignoring me. "Let's check again. You go to the dropship, I'll check the rest of the fence," Clarke said.

"What can I do?" I asked, moving to walk beside Clarke. "I could check the butterfly field, or-"

"No, thanks, we got it," Bellamy said.

"Look," I said, stopping. They both stopped and Clarke sighed. "I don't care what you think about me. Octavia is my friend, and if she's in trouble then I'm gonna help, no matter what you two say. So either tell me where to look or I'll just go look on my own." Clarke slightly rolled her eyes and walked away, towards the boundary fence. Bellamy nodded. "Thank you," he said. I shrugged. "Octavia would do it for me," I said.

"Start at the butterfly field and work you're in," he said. I nodded and head to the gate. I struggled with the idea of a missing Octavia as I made my way out. She was always around, always the bright spot in the day. And why would she just up and vanish? It was not like her to do that. I mean, sure, she'd pop in and out of camp, but she'd never go far. I made it to the field in five minutes or less. It was empty, of course.

But the trees lit up with swarms of glowing, blue butterflies. They were gorgeous. It's no wonder Octavia loved them so much. There was no sign of her in the field, so I slowly started back for camp. I kept an eye out for any tail tell signs of a struggle, but I found no such thing. I was becoming even more worried about her by the second. When I made it back in camp, Bellamy was addressing everyone that was awake, with weapons on the ground in front of him. "My sister's been out there alone for twelve hours. Arm up, we're not coming back without her," he said.

Monroe and Mbege stepped forward and grabbed weapons from the small pile. Of all the people in the world, Sawyer walked forward and grabbed an axe. Bellamy nodded to him and said something, and I walked over. "Sawyer? What are you doing?" I asked. He turned to me. "I'm going to help find Octavia," he said.

"But it's dangerous out there at night. What if something happened to you?" I asked, frantically thinking of all the ways that he could get hurt. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "Tay, come on. You know me, I'll be fine. And no, there is no way you're stopping me," he said.

"Fine. Then I'm coming, too," I said.

**Azalea's POV**

Jasper moved to join the search party and I stopped him. "Jasper, you don't have to do this," I said. With all that's happened, Jasper had become afraid to step out of the gate. And now he was going on a search and rescue mission? "You haven't left camp since we brought you back."

"Azalea, I need to do this," he said.

"We need all the people we can get," Bellamy said. Jasper turned to me. "Don't worry, okay? I'll be fine, I promise," he said. He briefly kissed me before walking off to join the others. Clarke walked up and stopped next to me. "We need a tracker," Bellamy said to her. "Finn get out here."

**Sawyer's POV**

Everyone started to head out with torches and weapons, but I stayed behind with Taylor. No way in h*ll was I letting her go. "Taylor," I said.

"Sawyer," she said, mimicking my voice. She gave me a look. "Come on. We go together or not at all. Remember, even though we're twins. I came out first." I chuckled at that. She was the oldest of both of us. "Fine. But yo do as I say, got it?" I said. She nodded. "Got it," she said. I put my arm around her shoulders and we headed out with the others. "Finn, we're leaving," Bellamy said, just before Finn came out of his tent. He stopped to talk to Clarke and I felt Taylor sigh next to me.

"Hey guys! Look, look," some kid ahead said.

"What is that?" another asked. Everyone halted, looking up at the sky. I let go of Taylor and looked up. It looked like a million little stars were falling all in one isolated area. But I knew what it was. They were bodies. "Oh my g*d," Taylor said, quietly. "What if that's Felicity?" My head quickly snapped over to look at her. "Taylor, don't even think like that," I said.

"It's not a meteor shower," Clarke said, suddenly. "It's a funeral, hundreds of bodies being returned to the Earth. This is what it looks like from the other side."

"They didn't get our message," I said. Taylor's head shot up and she turned, heading for Bellamy. I grabbed her arm to hold her back. "This is all because of you!" she said.

"I helped you find the radio," he said.

"Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed-" Raven said.

"He knows," Clarke said, beside her. "Now he has to live with it."

"All I know is that my sister is out there and I'm gonna find her," Bellamy said. He turned to Taylor. "You coming or what?" Then to the crowd he said, "What are we waiting for? Move out." Everyone started moving, and surprisingly, so did Taylor. "You okay?" I asked, walking close beside her out of camp.

"Yeah," she sniffled. "I'm fine. Let's just find Octavia." The group spanned out to canvas more area. We searched for an hour or so before someone called, "Look! Over here!" Bellamy and Taylor were the first through the trees, and I followed up close behind. It a small clearing was a steep slope down. "What is it?" Bellamy asked.

"There see? Is that Octavia's?" All the way down the hill was something hanging on a bush. "Rope," Bellamy said. Some kids passed up the rope as Finn came walking around me. "What are you doing?" he asked Bellamy.

"I'm gonna need the rope to get back up," he replied, tossing down the rope and handing the end to Mbege. "Flashlight." Mbege gave him the flashlight and Bellamy Quickly started down the hill. "Be careful," Taylor called out, standing at the edge. "It could be slick." Bellamy made it to the bottom and grabbed whatever was hanging on the bush. "It's her's," he called up. "I'm going all the way down." Jasper stepped up and handed Finn his torch, then started down using the rope. After him, Taylor went down, and after her, I went down.

Everyone followed down, one-by-one. When I made it down, Taylor and Bellamy were staring at something on the ground, talking quietly. I leaned over Bellamy's shoulder and saw that it was blood that they were looking at. Jasper didn't look very confident as he glanced around at the trees. Finn came over and shown a light on the blood. "Someone else is here," Bellamy said.

"The prints are deeper going that way," Finn said. "He was carrying her."

"If they took her, she's alive," Taylor said, hopefully.

"Like when they took me," Jasper said. Bellamy stood and Finn and Taylor followed close behind him as he started walking. Jasper and I followed up behind them, and everyone else followed us. We followed the tracks for a while, until we came to a fallen tree. On the other side of the fallen tree, dead bodies were hung up in the trees and on stakes. "Oh, that's just disgusting," I said.

"I don't speak Grounder," Finn said. "But I'm pretty sure this means 'keep out'." Several kids complained and turned back. "Leave if you want. My sister, my responsibility," Bellamy said, continuing forward.

"I'd walk into hell to find her," Taylor said, following Bellamy. I quickly followed Taylor. I wasn't about to leave my sister just because some dead bodies gave me the willies. "I think we just did," Finn said, commenting on Taylor's words as he followed next to me. We kept walking through sunrise, until well into daylight. Finn sighed. "I got nothing," he said. "We lost the trail."

"Keep looking," Bellamy said, walking past him.

"Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister, we should back track-" Finn said.

"I'm not going back," Bellamy said.

"Hey, where's John?" Roma asked, looking nervous beside me.

"I just saw him a second ago," Jasper said.

"Spread out," Bellamy said. "He couldn't have gone that far." Everyone in our small group spanned outward, now looking for two missing people. Suddenly, a loud thud grabbed all our attentions. I spun around. John Mbege was lying dead on the ground. "They used the trees," Finn said. Everybody looked up, suddenly conscious of what might be up there. "We shouldn't have passed the boundary," one guy said.

"Now can we go back?" Roma asked.

"There," Jasper said, pointing off into the trees. A dark figure stood to the right, and another was moving to the left. "Another one," the same guy said.

"We should run," Finn said. I grabbed Taylor as everyone broke into a sprint, and we ran as fast as we could. On either side of us as we ran were Grounders. We ran, and ran, and ran, dodging the Grounders as best we could. But they kept moving in our way so we would have to move as well to get past them. "What are we gonna do? They keep cutting us off!" a guy asked.

"Keep running!" I yelled.

"I can't run much longer!" Jasper called out, in the back.

"I'm not stopping for him!" the guy said, running past Bellamy and Finn as they stopped ahead.

"I'm sick of running anyway," Bellamy said. Taylor yanked me to a stop beside Finn and Bellamy. "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked Bellamy.

"They know where she is," he said. Roma stopped a ways back, and looked behind her. She called out for someone and ran off in another direction. "Roma!" Bellamy called. Finn and Bellamy headed the charge after Roma, through the trees. She screamed up ahead and ran away, revealing the guy she was looking for, dead and hanging mid-air with spikes coming out of his back. "Wait, Roma!" Finn called, as she ran. "There could be more!" We all stopped. "They're leading us here," Jasper said.

"It's the only place that we can run," Taylor agreed.

"Hey…where'd they go?" I asked, looking around for the Grounders. It's like they had just, poof! Disappeared. "After Roma," Bellamy said, starting to run after her.

"Bellamy, wait, it's a trap!" Taylor said, running after him. It was like a Congo line or something, because I followed after Taylor, and then Finn followed after me. We were able to slow to a walk after a while of looking. We finally found her after twenty to thirty minutes of solid looking. "There she is," Monroe said, as we all stopped walking. "Roma!" Her left shoulder was visible from behind a tree. Roma didn't respond and Taylor rushed forward. "Wait!" Bellamy grabbed her arm and stopped her, then slowly continued forward by himself. As he got closer, all of us headed forward.

"Roma became visible, then. She was dead, a spear stuck in her chest, pinning her to the tree at her back. "Oh g*d," Taylor said, stepping back and covering her mouth with her hand. Finn and I looked around. "They're playing with us," Finn said. Bellamy closed Roma's still open eyes. "She only came because of me," he said, quietly, a look of horror on his face.

"They can kill us whenever they want," I said.

"Then they should-" Jasper said. Then he shouted, "GET IT OVER WITH! COME ON!"

"Stop!" Finn grabbed Jasper and pulled him to the side, shutting him up. Through all the arguing that started, Monroe screamed, "They're coming!" and we all shut up. Grounders on all sides came running towards us. I grabbed Taylor's hand and squeezed. She squeezed back and I was convinced this was how my life would end. Then, suddenly, a loud horn blew and all the Grounders stopped dead in their tracks. They then turned and all ran away, disappearing from sight. "They're leaving," Bellamy said, shocked.

"Acid fog," Finn said.

"We have to run," Monroe said. Finn pulled the parachute out from his pack. "There's no time," he said, spreading it out. "Everyone get under."

**Taylor's POV**

We hid out under the parachute for a while. Monroe and Jasper were behind, Sawyer was to my left, and Bellamy was to my right. Finn was to the left of Bellamy. It was quiet, and all that was audible was everyone's ragged breathing. "How long are we supposed to wait?" Jasper asked.

"Will this even work?" Monroe asked.

"We'll find out," Finn said.

"No we won't," Bellamy said. He poked his head out, like a complete idiot. When there's acid fog, you don't hang your head out in the breeze. I scoffed and stuck my head out. But I went silent when I saw there was no fog in sight. "There's no fog," I said. Finn pushed the parachute back and we all climbed out. "Maybe it was a false alarm?" Sawyer suggested.

"They're coming back," Bellamy said. I whipped around and caught a glimpse of a single Grounder running to the right. My heart jump started and I grabbed Sawyer, pulling him to his feet. Then nothing happened. "I think he's alone," Jasper whispered.

"Now can we run?" Monroe asked.

"He doesn't see us," Bellamy said. "I'm going after him."

"Wait, and do what? Kill him?" I asked.

"No," he replied, staring intently at the Grounder. "Catch him. Make him tell me where Octavia is. Then kill him." Bellamy started after the Grounder and my heart winced—if that was even possible to do so. A tug in my gut said to go after him, so I did. "Bellamy!" I whisper-yelled, catching up to him. "Stop! What if it's another trap? You are no use to Octavia dead!" He shot an annoyed glance over his shoulder but kept walking until I was beside him. Then he stopped. He sighed, frustratedly. "Taylor, I'm going to follow that Grounder no matter what you say. You can either come with me, or go back with Sawyer," he said, his angry eyes boring into me. He turned back around and followed the Grounder.

I shook my head, but continued following. Heck, I was an idiot for following. But what if this Grounder did know where Octavia was? The Grounder led us to a small hole in the ground. Bellamy dropped in without even looking at how far the drop was. I saw Sawyer and Finn running to catch up and said, "To heck with it." I swung my legs in and slowly lowered myself inside. Bellamy grabbed my waist to help me down to the ground. Then he turned and I saw the tunnel awaiting us. "Is it too late to say I'm claustrophobic?" I asked. He glanced at me and chuckled, then began walking after patting me on the shoulder.

I followed down the dark, dank tunnel. I was breathing a bit quickly and a lump of panic formed in my throat, but I pressed on. Sawyer landed in the tunnel and made his way up beside me. We found that the long tunnel let out into a cave. In the cave was Octavia fiddling with something on the ground. Next to her was a Grounder, lying on the ground. "Octavia?" Bellamy said.

"Bellamy!" Octavia said. Bellamy ran to her. "Get the key," she said. I hurried over and nudged Bellamy out of the way. "Let me," I said. I picked up a piece of U shaped wiring and began bending it. "What are you doing?" Bellamy asked.

"Well, on the Ark," I said, shoving the piece into the lock that tied Octavia to the wall. "I had some situations where I had to be resourceful."

"Resourceful like picking locks?" Finn asked, with a hint of dead sarcasm.

"Yep, that'd be it," I said, forcing the lock open. It was rusted and I felt a fire rip through my hand. I yanked it back crying out, "Ah!" I opened my hand and looked for the damage. A deep gash ran from one side of my palm to the other, and it began to bleed. "Monroe, watch the exits," Bellamy said. She nodded and went back into the tunnel. I stood and joined Sawyer by the far wall. He grabbed my hand and looked it over. Then he ripped the bottom chunk of his shirt off and wadded it up, then pressed it to the gash. It stung. "Ow!" I said.

"We need to keep pressure on it," he said. Octavia and Bellamy hugged, happy to see each other alive. Then Octavia hugged Jasper, then she hobbled over to me and wrapped me in a hug. "How did you find me?" she asked us.

"We followed him," Jasper said, gesturing to the Grounder. She pulled away from me. "We should go, now, before he wakes up," she said.

"He's not gonna wake up," Bellamy said, walking over to a spear.

"Bellamy, stop," Octavia said. "He didn't hurt me, let's just go."

"He started this," Bellamy said, readying the spear. I moved in front of him before he could stab the unconscious Grounder. "Bellamy, no! If you kill him, then the humanity will be lost. What will separate _us_ from _them_?" I said.

"Taylor, move," he ordered. Finn was knelt down behind me, looking at the Grounder. He suddenly said, "Fog horn." Just then, the Grounder sprung awake, reaching up and stabbing Finn in the side with a knife. Bellamy held up the spear but the Grounder kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to land flat on his face. Sawyer yanked me out of the way and they fought. Bellamy stood and grabbed the spear then held it up, but the Grounder grabbed it, blocking it. The Grounder got the upper hand, shoving Bellamy to the ground, aiming the spear tip at his throat.

"No, stop! That's my brother!" Octavia shouted at the Grounder, but he didn't listen. Jasper came up behind the Grounder and hit him in the head with a stick. The Grounder passed out and hit the ground beside Bellamy. I ran to Finn. Jasper grabbed the knife and I smacked his hand away. "No! If you pull it out, he could bleed to death. We need to get him back to camp, now," I said. Sawyer and Bellamy carried Finn bridle-style as we hurried back to camp.

"Clarke!" I shouted as we neared camp. Kids opened the gate and I headed in, followed by Jasper who was half carrying Octavia. "Get, Clarke, now," I said.

"I'm here, what's up?" Clarke asked, jogging over. Sawyer and Bellamy came in, carrying Finn, and Clarke gasped. "Finn? Finn! Oh my g*d,' she said. She checked his pulse. "He's alive," she said.

"They wouldn't let me take the knife out," Jasper told her.

"No, that was a good call. Get him in the dropship, now. Go!" two kids took Finn from them and carried him to the dropship, Clarke and Raven following close behind. I was just standing there when Octavia began leaving the gate. Bellamy noticed and went to stop her. "Hey," he said. Why were you defending him?"

"Because, he saved my life. That spear that hit Roma was actually-"

"No, you're wrong. I saved your life. For all you know he was keeping you alive to use as bait for one of their traps," Bellamy said.

"No…I don't think so," she said.

"You don't think, O, that's the problem. They killed three of our people today. And if you would've have let me kill him when I had the chance, Finn wouldn't be in there dying right now," he accused.

"Stop it! Stop blaming me for _your_ mistakes!" she yelled. "What happened to Finn is not my fault, I wanted to leave. So if Finn dies in there, that's on you. Everything that's gone wrong is because of you. You got me locked up on the Ark, you wanted me to go to that stupid dance, you got mom killed!"

"Me. Mom was floated for having you. She's dead because you're alive. That was her choice. I didn't have a choice. My life ended the day you were born," Bellamy said. Octavia tried to leave again, but he grabbed her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"You can't keep me locked up in here forever," she said, before brutally ripping her arm from Bellamy's grasp. She stopped away and I stood there, agape. Bellamy went to the open gate and motioned to some kid outside. "Get inside," he said. The kid came running in. "Go!" Bellamy closed the gate, and then turned around. He froze, finally noticing me standing a few yards away, just within earshot of the conversation. He looked remorseful, like he regretted his words to his sister.

But he ignored me, walking off in the other direction. In the sky, lighting cracked and thunder boomed, accompanied by dark clouds of purple. A storm was coming.


	8. Chapter Eight: Contents Under Pressure

_Chapter Eight: Content's Under Pressure_

**Azalea's POV**

The guy's outside struggled to keep the tarp on the dropship door down as the winds blew strongly and the rain pounded down. "This is Raven Reyes, calling Ark stations," raven said, speaking into the radio near the back. She'd been trying for hours, and getting nothing. Finn was practically bleeding out, and we couldn't contact Ark medical for directional help. "_…Please identify yourself…_" a crackling voice came through the radio and the crowd in the dropship swarmed behind Raven. "This is Raven Reyes, from Meca Station, I'm transmitting from the ground," Raven said. There was no response for a while. "_Raven, are you there_?" a female voice said.

Clarke moved to the radio. "Mom? Mom it's me."

"_Clarke_?" the woman said.

"Mom, I need your help. One of our people was stabbed by a Grounder," Clarke said.

"_Clarke, this is the Chancellor. Are you saying there are survivors on the ground_?"

"Yes," Clarke said. "The Earth is survivable. We're not alone. Mom, he's dying, the knife is still in his chest."

"_Clarke is my son with you_?" the Chancellor asked. Everyone froze. No, Jaha, your son was killed by a crazy, murdering little girl. "I'm so sorry," Clarke said. "Wells is….Wells is dead."

"_I'm gonna talk you through it, step-by-step_," Clarke's mother, Abby, said. Suddenly a loud thud and a crack of lighting came from outside and the radio signal started breaking up. "What's wrong?' I asked, walking over to Raven.

"It's not the radio," she said. "It's the storm." Octavia came in, drenched from the rain, carrying to bottles. She gave one to Clarke and she opened it. "Oh," Clarke said, wrinkling her nose at the smell. "Monty's moonshine?"

"Pretty sure no germ can survive it," Octavia said, sarcastically.

"Monroe, close the door," Clarke said.

"We still have people out there," I said.

"Monty and Jasper still aren't back yet," Taylor said, walking over from the ladder. "And neither is Bellamy."

"It's okay. I'm sure they'll find somewhere to ride out the storm," Clarke said. Raven gave Clarke a thin piece of metal to use as a needle. "Okay, but I still need something to sew the wound with," she said.

"There's some wire on the second level, I used it for the tents," Taylor said.

"Let's see it," Clarke said, with a curt nod.

"Stay away from the blue wires that run through the ceiling. I rigged it to detach itself from the roof. That means they're hot, got that?" raven said.

"Yeah, I got that," Taylor said, starting to climb back up the ladder.

"Tell me you can do this," Raven said to Clarke.

"Hey, they're back!" a girl called.

"Bellamy!" Taylor said, jumping from the ladder as he entered. Behind Bellamy were two kids carrying a Grounder. Taylor looked p*ssed, and frankly I was angry, too. Answering violence with violence was not the answer, and yet Bellamy just couldn't help himself. They dropped the Grounder. He was bleeding, blind folded, and gagged. "What the h*ll are you doing?" Taylor asked, gesturing to the Grounder.

"It's time to get some answers," Bellamy said.

"Oh, you mean revenge?" Taylor asked, with a bit of sarcasm.

"I mean intel," Bellamy replied, glaring at her. "Get him upstairs."

"Bellamy, Taylor's right," Clarke said, stepping forward. A voice came from the radio and Clarke glanced over her shoulder at it. "Look this is not who we are."

"It is now," Bellamy said, turning away. He and his posse dragged the Grounder up the ladder to the second level and Clarke hurried back to the radio with Raven. "Sawyer, please tell me you didn't help him do that," Taylor said, looking at Sawyer. He was drenched from being outside in the rain and he looked guilty. When he was quiet, she shook her head. "Tell me you did not help him do th-" she repeated, louder.

"We need answers," he cut her off.

"And torture is the way to do it?" she asked, her voice getting higher by the anger-filled second. I tried to tune out their conversation as I sat on a crate near the table Fin was lying on. I wasn't brave enough to openly voice my opinions to anyone, much less Bellamy. Taylor certainly had guts, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Taylor soon climbed up the ladder quickly, before Sawyer could grab her, and he angrily climbed up after her. What was the deal with those two?

They seemed close, but not like friend-close. Like sibling-close, but Taylor told me she had no siblings. It didn't make sense. "The blade is in a sharp upward angle, between the sixth and seventh ribs," Clarke said.

"_Okay, how deep_?" Abby asked, through the radio.

"I can't tell how deep it goes," Clarke replied, walking over to the side with the blade.

"_It's alright, just don't remove the knife yet_," Abby said. Clarke grabbed a bottled of Monty's moon shine and Raven was pacing frantically. "Hey," Jasper said, sitting next to me. I tried for my best smile, but it was small and weak. He slid his hand into mine and entwined our fingers in my lap. "Don't worry about it, okay? Clarke will fix him up."

"Yeah, but what about …you know…upstairs? I feel like I should do something," I said.

"Like what?" Jasper asked. I shook my head. "I don't know. Taylor seems to know what to do. She always does," I said, looking down at our hands together.

"Hey," he took my chin in his hand and tilted my head up to look at him. "Taylor is…well, she's Taylor. Let her handle it." I nodded and leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. "_Clarke, I need you to tell me if there are any fluids leaking from the wound_," Abby said.

"Um…no," Clarke said.

"_That's good. That's actually really good. You got lucky_," Abby said.

"You hear that?" Raven said to Finn. "You're lucky."

**Sawyer's POV**

Miller and another kid were tying the Grounder, when he started waking up. He pulled against the ties. "Tighter," Bellamy said. "Tighter. Last thing we need is this b*stard getting free because you scr*wed up." They tightened the ropes and I could literally _feel_ Taylor getting angrier beside me. Octavia came up the ladder and she froze, staring at the Grounder, and the Grounder stared back, suddenly motionless at her presence. "Octavia, get out of here," Bellamy ordered. But Octavia stepped forward. "I told you, he was protecting me. You didn't have to do this," she said.

"This isn't about you," Bellamy said. "I'm doing this for all of us."

"You did _that_ for all of us?" Taylor asked, motioning to the Grounder's bloodied face.

"No, I did that for Finn and Jasper and Diggs and John and Roma," Bellamy said.

"It wasn't even him!" Octavia said.

"You don't know that!" Bellamy said. "We need to know what we're up against. How many there are and why they're killing us. And he's gonna tell us right now." Bellamy approached the Grounder, but Octavia grabbed his arm. "No, Bellamy, please," she pleaded.

"Get her out of here," Bellamy said, ripping his arm from her grasp. Miller and another kid grabbed her, pulling her towards the ladder. "I was there! I saw- hey! Get off, get off of me!" Octavia said, and the boys let her go. I noticed that the Grounder started pulling on his restraints as she struggled with the boys holding her. Octavia walked to the ladder. "I don't even think he speaks English," she said. "He won't understand you." She climbed down the ladder and Bellamy turned to Taylor. "You, too. Out," he said.

She crossed her arms defiantly. "No," she said. He glanced at Miller and motioned to Taylor with his eyes. I just barely caught it in time to jump in front of her before Miller could grab her. "Hey! Hands off," I said. Miller backed away, holding up his hands. "And that goes for all of you." I looked at Bellamy and he looked back at me with an angered expression. Then he turned to the Grounder. I few minutes into the 'questioning' a gust of wind shook the whole dropship and things went flying to the floor.

I staggered to the side, but caught myself. Some kid went down to check it out. "What the h*ll was that?" Bellamy asked, walking to the ladder a minute later. "Are we under attack or not?"

"Storm damage, we're okay," a kid said, climbing back up. Bellamy turned and started for the Grounder again. "I'm gonna try this one more time. What's your name?" he asked. When the Grounder said nothing, he asked, "Where's your camp? How many of you are there?"

"Hey, check it out," Miller said, crouched beside me, looking through the Grounder's things. I crossed my arms as I leaned into the wall behind me. Bellamy walked over to Miller and crouched down. They started talking about the items they'd found on him, and Taylor stepped closer to the Grounder. I was on high alert as it was, but now she was very close to a killer that doesn't speak English. They were looking at each other, and I think she was saying something, but I could barely see her lips moving let alone hear what was said.

Bellamy started opening a leather book and the Grounder jerked forward. "I think we found something he doesn't want us to see," Bellamy said, continuing to open it.

"Bellamy, stop," Taylor said, walking over to him. He ignored her and continued opening it. "These aren't bad," Bellamy said, flipping through page after page of sketches. Then he stopped on a page that held a sketch of a girl. And she looked just like Octavia. Bellamy glanced up at the Grounder. Then back at the book. "That's our camp," he said. "That marks up to one-hundred and two. Ten are crossed out. That's how many people we've lost."

He stood and walked back to the Grounder. "You've been watching us ever since we got here," he said. Bellamy opened the book in front of him and started asking him about the drawings. "What the h*ll is that?" Miller asked.

"A friend of yours?" Bellamy asked, angling the drawing so the Grounder could see it. The hatch opened and Clarke came up. Bellamy's guard dog got in her way, blocking her form coming any farther. "Get the h*ll out of my way," she said.

"It's okay. Let her through," Bellamy said. She walked over and stared at the Grounder. "Well if he didn't hate us before he does now," Clarke said, turning to Bellamy.

"Who cares," Bellamy said, pulling Clarke aside. They spoke for a minute until Raven called up, "Clarke, he's seizing!"

"On my way!" she shouted, hurrying down the ladder. Bellamy walked over and closed the hatch after her, then marched back up to the Grounder. "Bellamy, you can stop now," Taylor said, getting half-way in between him and the Grounder. "Let him go. He obviously won't tell you anything."

"Taylor-" Bellamy shook his head. Then banging sounding from the hatch. "Hey! Open the door!" it was Clarke's voice. Miller walked over and kicked the box off of the hatch and pulled it open. Clarke shoved her way through and climbed up to the level. She went straight to the Grounder and held his knife up in his face. Octavia climbed up the ladder next. "What's on this?" Clarke asked the Grounder.

"What are talking about?" Taylor asked, beside Clarke.

"He poisoned the blade!" Clarke said, before turning back to the Grounder. "All this time he knew Finn was gonna die no matter what we did. WHAT IS IT? IS THERE AN ANTIDOTE?"

"Clarke, he doesn't understand you," Octavia said.

"Vials," Bellamy said. He turned and grabbed the canister of vials that was with the Grounder's things and brought them over. "It's gotta be here." Clarke tossed the knife over on the ground and started looking through the vials. "You'd have to be stupid to have a poison around this long without an antidote," she said. "WHICH ONE?"

"Answer the question!" Bellamy said. The Grounder was staying silent, making everyone even angrier than before. "Show us, please," Octavia pleaded.

"Which one? Our friend is dying down there and you can stop that," Clarke said. He was quiet and Clarke looked to Bellamy. He walked over to the Grounder saying, "I'll get him to talk." He wound his arm back and Taylor grabbed his arm. "Bellamy, no!" she said.

"He wants Finn to die, why can't you see that?" he yelled at her.

"This isn't right!" Taylor said.

"Do you want him to live or not?" Bellamy asked, looking at Clarke. Taylor looked at Clarke with a pleading look in her eyes and I felt helpless. Torturing the Grounder for information wasn't right, yes. But it was necessary. Finn was going to die without that antidote. "Clarke, you even said it yourself, this is not who we are!" Octavia said, stepping up beside Taylor. "He was protecting me, he saved my life!"

"We're talking about _Finn's_ life!" Bellamy said.

"Do it," Clarke said, quietly.

"No!" Octavia ran towards the Grounder but two kids held her back. "Just tell us!" Bellamy cut a belt from one of the seats and walked to the Grounder. I grabbed Taylor and pulled her away, towards the wall, and she fought me, thrashing against me in a way she'd never done before. I held onto her tightly as Bellamy cut off the Grounder's shirt. Bellamy looked at Clarke and she nodded. "Bellamy, no!" Octavia said. Bellamy pulled the buckle off his shoulder and swung.

**Taylor's POV**

Bellamy waited a second and then hit the Grounder again. Clarke dropped to her knees and spread out the vials on the floor. "Please, which one's the antidote?" she asked.

"Just tell them," Octavia pleaded. He remained silent and Clarke's head drooped. Bellamy put a hand on her shoulder and she stood, getting out of the way. There was a fire in my gut. Every fiber of my being was against what was happening right in front of my eyes, and my brother was holding me back because he approved of it. Bellamy hit the Grounder with the seat belt again and again. I felt Sawyer's grip was loose—he thought I wasn't going to move anymore. He was wrong.

I quickly pulled from his grasp. "Taylor!" he hissed, as I slipped away. I made it there at the last second. I slid in front of the Grounder, using my body as a human shield. And, little to my knowledge, Bellamy's arm was just swinging back to hit again as I did so. Since I was considerably shorter than the Grounder and Bellamy, the end of the buckle hit the side of my forehead. My head snapped to the side form the force of the hit, and my vision blacked out for a minute. I heard a gasp. "Taylor!"

I stumbled sideways and caught myself on the wall. Octavia was at my side and she held me upright. She pushed back my hair and looked at the damage. "I'm fine," I said, numbly, my words slurring. Although, I wasn't fine by any definition. I was incredibly dizzy and my whole head throbbed. I heard Raven shouting something up the ladder. Then Clarke went back to the vials at the Grounder's feet. "Which one? Which one is it? If you tell us, they'll stop. Please, tell us which is the antidote, and they'll stop this!" Clarke pleaded.

He was quiet yet again. I heard voices and I couldn't quite understand the words. But I saw Bellamy stab the Grounder in the hand with something. Raven came up the ladder and my vision cut out again. I grabbed Octavia to hold me up and she held onto me. "Wanna bet?" I heard Raven say. She went to wall as my vision was coming back and she was pulling at something. "What are you doing?" Bellamy asked. Then a zapping came from two wires as Raven pulled them from the wall.

She sparked them a few times and I winced. "Showing him something new," Raven said, sparking them in front of the Grounder.

"Raven," I mumbled. "Don't." The Grounder backed away in fear and she electrocuted him with the wires. He cried out and I squeezed my eyes shut. "Come on!" Raven said.

**Sawyer's POV**

"NO MORE!" Octavia yelled, at the top of her lungs, holding up the Grounder's knife.

"He's letting Finn die!" Raven said. All I could do was stand there, frozen. Bellamy had hit Taylor in the head with the buckle, then Raven started electrocuting the Grounder, and now Octavia looked homicidal. Octavia cut her arm, down the center. "Octavia, no!" Bellamy said.

"He won't let me die," she said.

"Octavia, what did you-" Octavia shoved past Bellamy and knelt by the vials. She started pointing out the vials one-by-one. She went down the line, and at first I thought it wasn't working. But then the Grounder jutted his chin in the direction of the right vial and Octavia held it up. "This one?" she asked. He nodded and Octavia gave the vial to Clarke. Clarke and Raven ran down the ladder with the vial and Octavia wrapped a cloth around her arm. "O-" Bellamy said.

"Don't touch me!" she replied, writhing away. I went to Taylor and moved to touch her but she swatted me away, a hand over her eyes. "Don't touch me, just leave me alone," she said. Her words were slow and obviously thought out. "Taylor, let me see," I said.

"No, Sawyer," she said, stepping to the side.

"Stop being such a child," I said.

"I'm being the child?" she snapped, standing away from the wall. She glared at me, but I could see her eyes were dilated. Sweat beaded her forehead and she was obviously struggling to breathe evenly. I could tell something was dead wrong, but she wouldn't let me near her. "You condoned this! You let Bellamy and Raven torture him! He's innocent!"

"He stabbed Finn! Are you forgetting that?" I asked.

"It was self-defense, moron!" she said. "J-just stop, okay? Just…" She teetered, her eyelids fluttering. I rushed forward just in time to catch her before she fell. She was unconscious in my arms. Octavia hurried over. "Oh god, quick, get her downstairs," she said. I hefted Taylor into my arms and carried her to the ladder. Octavia helped me get her limp body down the rungs to the bottom level. "Whoa, what the h*ll happened?" Raven asked. Octavia climbed down behind me. Clarke came over and checked her pulse.

She then shook her head. "Um…lay her down," she said, directing me to another table. I laid Taylor across the open space and Octavia came over, hovering over Clarke. "If she gonna be okay?" I asked.

"She's had major brain trauma. The only way to tell is keep administering fluids and wait for the morning," Clarke said. I pulled a metal box over and sat on it beside Taylor. A little while later, Azalea came over and stood beside me. "I heard what happened," she said. "I knew she was bold, but this…" She shook her head and I nodded.

Through the rest of the night, I stayed awake, waiting for her to wake up. But she never did. Clarke routinely checked her pulse to make she was still breathing. When it was morning, the storm had passed, and light shown in through the front of the dropship. I had nodded off here and there, but I forced my eyes open. _Taylor wouldn't fall asleep if it was you_, I told myself. I don't know which emotion I felt more: Anger towards Bellamy, or worry towards Taylor. They were both battling each other, and the worry was winning.

At the end of the day, Clarke came back over to check Taylor's pulse and I bolted upright, trying to look more awake than I was. She pressed her fingers to Taylor's neck. "No…this isn't right," she said. She felt Taylor's forehead with the back of her hand. "What is it?" I asked, standing.

"This makes no sense," she said. "She's feverish and pale…and she's got a fast pulse rate. There might be an infection."

"In what? It's just a bruise," I said. Clarke froze for a second. Then she quickly went around to Taylor's other side and picked up Taylor's wrist. There was a cloth wrapped around her hand where she'd gotten cut on that rusty lock. Then it all made sense. "I told her to clean it and have you look at it as soon as we got back," I said. "She didn't listen." Clarke unwrapped the cut. It was puckered and pink, and oozing a mixture of blood and puss. "I need to get this disinfected," she said.

I hurried and grabbed the bottle of Monty's moonshine, then gave it to Clarke. She poured it on the cut, and then went outside. She came back in a few minutes later with a knife. "I need to cut off the infected flesh," she said. "Hold her down." I grabbed Taylor the best I could and Clarke began cutting. Taylor thrashed in her fever induced sleep. Clarke finished cutting, then bandaged the wound. "What did she cut her hand on?" Clarke asked.

"A lock in the Grounder's cave. It was all rusted out," I said.

"It could be Tetanus," Clarke suggested, the wheels visibly turning in her head. "But for that I'd need Antibiotics…wait, we still have some of the sea weed that as used for Jasper." She hurried to the other side of the room and brought back a canister. After getting some down Taylor's throat, Clarke said, "We'll need to keep a close eye on her. If it is in fact Tetanus, there may be nothing we can do. If she doesn't wake up soon…Just, watch her."


	9. Chapter Nine: Day Trip

_Chapter Nine: Day Trip_

**Azalea's POV**

Two days after Bellamy had tortured the Grounder, Raven was able to set up a screen and connect it to the radio. Now we could see the Ark, and the Ark could see us. Kids lined up, waiting for their turn to talk to their parents. But I wanted nothing to do with my parents, come my turn, so I gave my slot to someone else. I went into the dropship. Taylor still wasn't awake, and it was scaring everyone. The infection was gone and so was her fever—they'd disappeared late last night. But she remained asleep.

There was a welt on the side of her head, near her left temple. Sawyer was still sitting with Taylor come his turn. "Hey," I said. "It's your turn." He perked up and glanced at Taylor's sleeping form. "Don't worry, I'll watch her. Go," I said. He nodded and mumbled a thank you before disappearing out the dropship door. I sat where Sawyer was sitting and sighed. _Wake up_, I thought. _Please_.

**Sawyer's POV**

I sat in the chair and pulled on the headset. On the screen, Felicity sat in the chair. "Sawyer? Is that you?" she asked. "Where's Taylor?" I was relieved to see her, but then my hopes crashed and burned when I thought of telling her about Taylor. "Um…well, you see, there was an incident," I said.

"Oh g*d," Felicity said, covering her face with her hands.

"No, no, she's not dead," I said, quickly. Felicity moved her hands. "Where is she, Sawyer?" she asked.

"She's unconscious. She was hit in the head with a seat belt," I said. She gave me a puzzled look. "A what?" she asked. "How is that-"

"One of the other's—Bellamy—was…well, he was torturing a Grounder for information and Taylor got in the way. It was an accident," I said. She closed her eyes and let a breath out her nose. She shook her head and then opened her eyes. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm…fine, I guess," I said. "How are you?"

**Azalea's POV**

I sat with Taylor for a long while. I leaned into the table with my arms crossed on top of it and sighed. "Mom?" I jolted upright and stared at Taylor. She blinked her eyes open and slowly looked around. Then her eyes settled on me. "Who are you? Where's Sawyer? Where am I?"

"It's me, it's Azalea," I said, standing. "You're in the dropship? On Earth?" Her eyes widened in evident fear. "Earth? No, no, no, no, no," she said, sitting up. She pushed her blanket off. "No, no. I have to find Sawyer." she hoped off the table and I ran around to stop her. "Where is Sawyer?" I grabbed her shoulders as she teetered. "Calm down, okay? You're safe here. Sawyer is outside," I said. She nodded but looked incredibly panicked. "I'll go get him, and you just sit right here," I said. Oddly enough, she sat on the table.

I ignored her strange cooperativeness and hurried outside. Sawyer was just coming out of the tent we'd set the radio up in when I exited the dropship. I ran to him. "Sawyer!" I skidded to a stop in front of him. "Taylor's awake," He started for the dropship but I grabbed him. "Wait."

"Azalea, what aren't you saying? She's awake, let's go," he said.

"She woke up a little strange. She didn't know who I was. She didn't know we were on Earth," I said.

"Get Clarke," he said, running to the dropship. A second later, Clarke walked into the dropship. "Well, that was easy," I said to myself. I hurried to the dropship and ran inside. Sawyer and Clarke were with Taylor, and Taylor looked petrified. Bellamy was standing by the entrance, watching. "What's going on?" he asked, glancing at me.

"She doesn't remember being sent to Earth," I said. "I just hope that's all she doesn't remember." Suddenly, screaming caught both of our attentions. Taylor shot off the table and was backing into the corner of the dropship, screaming, "Don't come any closer! Just stay away from me!" Clarke held up her hands and took a few steps back. Sawyer walked towards her and she jerked backwards. "Oh my g*d," I said. I'd never seen anyone act like that, let alone someone like Taylor. The brave, bold girl I once saw looked to be completely gone.

I walked over towards Clarke. "Taylor? Don't you remember me? I was in here when you woke up," I said. She nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks. Octavia had been sitting by the ladder, protesting Bellamy's 'no visitation' rule when it all happened, and now she was standing on the other side of the table from Taylor. I took a few more steps towards her, past Sawyer. "It's okay, Taylor."

"No it's not! I don't remember anything, why don't I remember anything?" she asked, in a distress-raised tone of voice. Then she froze, looking towards the door. I looked to see what she was seeing, and I found it. She was staring at Bellamy. But she didn't look afraid. "Do you remember him?" I asked, turning back to her.

"I don't know…I think so…I'm not sure," she said.

"Bellamy, come here," Clarke said, from behind me. "Talk her down. She could reinjure herself if she doesn't stay calm."

"You think she'll listen to me?" Bellamy whispered.

"It might work," Clarke whispered back. Taylor looked around at us with wide, round eyes. Eyes of a feral cat. They were wild and electrified with fear. I felt so bad for her, but I couldn't do anything. Bellamy stepped up next to me. "Do you know who I am?" he asked her.

"I don't know…" she shook her head, looking down and putting her hands on either side of her head. "I don't know!"

"Okay, that's okay. My name is Bellamy. Do you know what your name is?" he asked.

"Taylor Reign James," she said. "That's what they told me but….I don't know…." He slowly stretched his hand out to her and held it there. "It's nice to meet you Taylor," he said. He sounded exactly how he sounded with Charlotte. And she was buying it. "It's okay," he said, as Clarke pulled Sawyer and I back a bit. "You don't have to shake it."

"Do you wanna sit down?" he asked, gesturing to the table. "It's safe, I promise. See." He sat on the table and held out his arms. "Perfectly safe." He held out a hand to her and she took a step forward. She slid her hand in his and sat on the table next to him. He motioned for Clarke and she walked forward slowly. "Taylor, this is Clarke. She's a friend," he said, as Clarke neared. Clarke smiled. "It's Taylor right?" she asked. Taylor nodded and I leaned over to Sawyer. "I'm gonna go. I'll be back later," I said.

"Sure," he said. I turned and exited the dropship. The hustle and bustle of camp was a refreshing change. Watching Taylor made me a bit depressed, so I found my bright spot at the food sorting station. "Hey," I said, walking up.

"Hey, Az," Jasper said. "Look at all these nuts."

"Maybe these will last the winter-" I reached up and swatted a nut in the air before it could land in Monty's mouth. "If you guys stop eating them!"

"Hey, what was all the commotion we heard?" Monty asked.

"Oh, uh, Taylor woke up," I said. They shared a glance, and then both of them looked at me. "Is she okay?" Monty asked. I nodded, looking down at the nuts. "Yeah, I mean, physically she's okay. Mentally…not so much," I said. "You see, apparently, she doesn't remember squat."

"What?" Jasper asked.

"That's insane," Monty said. We were all quiet for a minute. "Hey, what do you think they're gonna do with the Grounder?" Jasper asked.

"I'd rather not think about it," Monty said.

"It's been two days since Bellamy captured him. How long until his friends come lookin for him?" Jasper asked.

"Cheer up," I said. "By that time, we'll all be dead from hypothermia." Monty tossed Jasper a cracked nut and Jasper opened his mouth. The nut landed in his mouth and they did some kind of high five.

**Taylor's POV**

I sat silently, my hands wringing in my lap. After Clarke and Bellamy left, Sawyer was the only one with me. Foot traffic was picking up where I was. I didn't know any of them. I didn't recognize any of the faces passing by me. I was sent to Earth. I'm on Earth right now. It doesn't seem real. "Taylor, I-"

"I need some air. Can I go outside?" I asked. Sawyer nodded and gave me a hand off the table. My head was a bit light and the room spun slowly. Sawyer helped me outside. Tents and work stations were scattered everywhere inside a fenced off area. "Do you remember camp?" Sawyer asked, leading me down the ramp.

"No," I said. My voice was still a bit uneven and crackly. I honestly didn't remember any of this. The camp, the people, the dropship—anything and everything was gone. He led me through camp, and I couldn't help but wonder if I saw things now the way I did before. Was everything this scary? I was introduced to a lot of people, people Sawyer said were his friends. But they weren't my friends. They were strangers. Then, later in the day, Sawyer took me into a tent and sat me down in a chair in front of a screen. "Put the headset on," he said.

I picked up the black headset and pulled it on, as told. The screen turned on and a brunette woman was sitting in chair. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. "Hi, Taylor," she said. I looked up at Sawyer and he nodded. I turned back to the screen. "Who are you?" I asked. Her smile faltered. "I'm Felicity. Your big sister," she said.

"I don't have a sister," I said, shaking my head. I tried to take deep breaths, stay calm, but a lump grew in my throat and my heart pounded. I was panicking. "Do you remember your parents?" The woman, Felicity, asked. Yes. I think. My mother had black hair with bright green eyes and a wide smile. My father…I didn't remember him much. He had sandy hair and I think he had blue eyes. I couldn't quite picture his face, though. "Yes," I said.

"They were mine, too. Sawyer is my brother, too," she said.

"I…I don't even know you," I said.

"Stay calm," Sawyer said.

"Who is she?" I asked. "Why does she think she's my sister? I don't have a sister!"

"Taylor, our parents died when you were sent to prison. Remember I'd come visit you on visiting day?" she asked.

"What? No! My parents aren't dead," I said.

"Taylor, please, just-" I ripped off the headset and stood. I hurried out of the tent and banked left, heading for the gate. I couldn't take it anymore. I don't know these people, I don't know this place. They are all strangers and yet somehow they all know me. I tore out of the gate, into the trees and tall brush. I ran left, up a short hill, and straight forward. Where was I going? I didn't remember ever going this way. But I just needed to go. I skidded to a stop at a beautiful sight.

Up high in the trees were bright, neon glowing butterflies. They were a bright blue color that I remembered as my father's eye color. My joints locked, my feet cemented to the ground. All I could do was stare at the bright insects. They fluttered around and I forgot about everything. All I thought about was what was right in front of me. I hadn't realized how late it was until the sun was gone behind the trees, and all the light was just coming from the butterflies. They were so beautiful I didn't want to move.

I heard a snapping sound behind me and I spun around, my heart jumping sky high. "Easy! Easy, Princess," Bellamy said, holding up his hands in surrender. "What are you doing out here alone? It's dangerous at night."

"Did you just call me 'Princess'?" I asked. "Is that how you saw me? A Princess?"

"More or less," he said, tilting his head briefly with a bitter expression. I crossed my arms and looked back up at the butterflies. "I'm not going back in there," I said.

"Why not?" he asked, stepping up beside me.

"I don't know anyone. I don't fit in with any of those people," I said. "I'm not like them. They're all strangers—I mean, I hardly know myself! How could I know anyone else? I'd rather just stay here, fall asleep watching the butterflies." Four butterflies were slowly flying around the space we occupied. One of them flew by close and I held out my hand. It's tiny feet touched my hand and it's wings fluttered against my skin. I couldn't help but smile. "They're so free and beautiful. They don't have to worry about Grounders or radiation or lack of food," I said. "They can be happy just being here, perched on a tree. Why can't the whole Earth be like this?"

I went on for several minutes, rambling. I was talking and talking and I realized Bellamy wasn't saying anything. To make sure he hadn't ditched me mid-sentence, I turned to look at him and the butterfly on my hand flew away. In the blue glow, his face lit up, reflecting the smile he wore. And his dark curls looked even darker. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, curiously. He continued to stare for a minute before glancing up at the butterflies, then at the ground. "It's getting late," he said. "And it's not safe to stay out here."

I took a deep breath, taming the rolling wave of panic in my chest. "Don't be scared. They don't bite," he said, with a smirk, holding out a hand. "And neither do I." I tried to look skeptical but the look on his face made me want to laugh. My hand was warm in his as he led me back to camp. This late at night I wouldn't know a rabbit from a cougar.

**Azalea's POV**

The day had been kind of weird. Everyone ate the nuts we'd gathered and everyone had turned into loony sycos. Finn, Raven, Octavia, and I were the only ones who hadn't eaten any, and we did our best to control the situation. By the time it was dark, the effects had worn off and everyone had killer headaches. Jasper had hallucinated Grounders, and he was seeing them everywhere. So Octavia gave him an 'anti-Grounder' stick, and now he was sleeping, cuddled up with it by a fire.

"He's gone! The Grounder's gone!" Miller shouted, standing at the door of the dropship. Everyone started murmuring and freaking out, looking around like he'd still be in camp somewhere. "What if he brings other Grounders back with him?" Jasper asked, stepping into the crowd that had started to form.

"Or worse?" some girl said.

"Let the Grounders come," Bellamy said, walking up to the group. Clarke was to his left and Taylor was to his right. I noticed Bellamy and Taylor were holding hands, and raised an eyebrow. Since when were they friends? I guess Taylor was a lot tamer now, but she was still Taylor. And the memory loss was probably only temporary, and she would remember that she hated him, and the friendship would be over. "We've been afraid of them for far too long. And why? Because of their knives and spears? I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being afraid."

Bellamy and Clarke pulled guns off their backs and gasps moved through the crowd. "These are weapons, okay? Not toys," Clarke said. "And we have to be prepared to give them up to the Guard when the dropships come. But until then, they're gonna help keep us safe."

"There are plenty more where these came from," Bellamy said. "Tomorrow we start training. And if the Grounders come…we'll be ready to fight." I looked around the crowd for Sawyer, but I didn't see him. He'd gone to look for Taylor earlier, and I doubt he knew she was back. I don't know why, but I felt annoyed with Taylor. She'd run off for hours and didn't come back until it was pitch black out and she came back with Bellamy of all people. He's the one that caused her to pass out, that caused her memory problem. And yet she was holding his hand?

After everyone dispersed, Sawyer finally came back in the gate. He came straight over to me. "Did Taylor come back yet?" he asked.

"Yeah, she came back a couple minutes ago," I said.

"Where is she?" he asked. I shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't see. But wherever she is, it's probably with Bellamy. So find him and you'll find her," I said. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you feeling okay? Please tell me you didn't eat the nuts," he said.

"I didn't eat the nuts," I said. "Just go find Taylor, before she goes running off again." He nodded and started off through camp. "Hey, are you okay?" Jasper asked, walking up to my side. I ran my hand over my face and sighed. "I'm fine. I think I'm just tired," I said. He nodded. "So…you saw Grounders?" I asked.

"Yeah…" he said.

"I'm sorry I wasn't around," I said. "Sawyer needed help finding Taylor. She ran off during her turn to see her sister."

"She has a sister? I thought you said-"

"Yeah, I did. But apparently she lied," I said, nodding.

"Are you sure you're okay? You seem kind of upset," he said.

"Yeah, I'm sure…can…can I just have a hug? Please?" I said. Instantly his arms were wrapped around me. Being on Earth was harder than I thought it would be. And I found out earlier that my father committed suicide after I was arrested. My mother wanted to tell me, but I didn't want to talk to her, so Clarke's mother did. I closed my eyes and found myself crying. I was tired and full of emotions I didn't know what to do with. So, to answer your question, yes I was a mess. And, yes, I missed my parents even after all they'd done to me. "Hey, hey…Shhh, it's gonna be alright, Az," Jasper said, softly.

With all that's happened, I didn't see how it could alright. Not now, not ever. Not anymore.


	10. Chapter Ten: Unity Day

_Chapter Ten: Unity Day_

**Sawyer's POV**

Today is Unity Day. It marks the day that, years ago, the Ark was formed from all of the separate stations coming together to make one station. The broadcast from the Unity Day ceremony on the Ark was being televised near the dropship. I watched some of it, but mostly I was looking around for Taylor. She'd slept in her tent last night and so far I hadn't seen her this morning. If you knew Taylor, you'd know as well as I do that she was an early riser. "Right, after we did all the work," Miller said. "Someone shut him up."

"You shut up, Miller. No one's forcing you to watch," Raven said. I saw Octavia a ways away and walked over to her. "Hey, have you seen Taylor?" I asked.

"She felt sick this morning, so she's probably still in bed," she said.

"She felt sick? Sick how?" I asked.

"She was throwing up," she said, shrugging.

"Okay, thanks," I said. I turned and started for Taylor and Octavia's tent. Then Jasper came out from a tent holding a big jug. "OOOOOH YEAH! Monty STRIKES again!" he hollered, running to the group of people watching the ceremony. "Hey this is Unity juice! Who's first?" He started filling up everyone's canteens and I chuckled. He was an odd kid, Jasper, but he was hilarious some times. I reached the tent and stood near the door. "Taylor? You in there?" I called. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah! I'm fine, I'll be out in a jiff," she said.

"Okay, but you're gonna miss Monty's Unity juice," I said. She opened the tent flap a minute later and smirked. "Unity juice?" she asked.

"Hey, they called it that, not me," I said. She laughed. "Okay, let's go," she said.

**Azalea's POV**

Everyone partied even after it fell dark. Torches were lit, and Monty had enough moonshine to last a year. Some kids were drumming on boxes to make music and everyone was laughing and generally having a good time. It was nothing like the parties on the Ark, but it was fun. Of course, almost everyone was drunk. I forced down yet another long gulp of moonshine and laughed at a joke that wasn't funny. I was with a small group—Jasper, Monty, Monroe, and Sterling—talking about anything and everything.

Like, what did you get arrested for? And, what station did you live on? Someone suggested playing Never Have I Ever and I joined in. "Never have I ever," I said, as everyone held up their drinks. "Self-medicated and gotten away with it." Monty and Jasper drank. Then so did Monroe, mumbling a "What the h*ll". "Oh!" we all said, being loud and stupid.

"Okay, okay, wait," Jasper said. We held up our glasses. "Never have I ever, taken matters into my own hands after a moon rise party."

"Oh that's just cruel," Sterling said, drinking. We all laughed and continued on with our stupid game. I felt lighter than air, most likely drunk. Intoxicated and loving it. A minute later, Taylor walked over. "Hey," she said, smiling timidly. She obviously hadn't been drinking like the rest of us. She was still walking straight. "Wanna play?" Jasper asked, handing her a canteen of moonshine. She took it. "Depends. What's the game?" she asked.

"Taylor," Finn walked over, interrupting the party. "Let's take a walk."

"Maybe another time, guys," she said, and then followed Finn away.

**Taylor's POV**

Finn led me away from the partying, towards an annoyed looking Clarke. "Did something happen?" I asked.

"I need you two to come with me, but I can't tell you why," he said, as we stood by Clarke.

"Finn, tell me why," Clarke said.

"I've set up a meeting with the Grounders," he said.

"A meeting? I don't understand. With who? How?" Clarke asked.

"I was just with the Grounder that we had in the dropship. His name is Lincoln," he said.

"Whoa, wait a second. He spoke to you?" I asked.

"That's not important. If we wanna live in peace-"

"Finn, we can't live in peace with people who've done nothing but kill us," Clarke said.

"Can you think of a better way to stop the bloodshed?" he asked.

"Yeah, with the guns that the guard bring down," Clarke said.

"You really want a war?" Finn asked. "Because at this rate, that's what's coming."

"I'm sorry, Finn. But I can't go with you," Clarke said. "I won't." She turned and started away. Finn shook his head with a sigh out his nose, looking angry. "I'll go," I said. He looked at me with a surprised expression. "Really?" he asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I want peace as much as you do," I said. "And it's time someone does something about it. But if we go, we have to bring back up."

"No way, we're not bringing guns. Those weren't the terms. And if we're gonna do this, we gotta give it a fair shot," Finn said. I sighed. "Okay. Okay, I'll grab my pack and meet you at the gate," I said. He nodded and I headed back through the partying, towards Octavia and my tent. I slipped inside and grabbed my pack off the floor. I slid it over my shoulder and headed back out. As I walked, Bellamy was just coming out of his tent. "Hey," I said, hurrying up beside him. "I need to talk to you."

"Having fun yet, Princess?" he asked, with a smirk.

"I'm serious," I said.

"You always are. So, talk," he said.

"Finn set up a meeting with the Grounders. I'm leaving to go talk to them," his expression changed to a serious one and he sighed, looking away. "Because you figure that impaling people with spears is code for 'let's be friends'?" he asked, sarcastically. "Have you lost your d*mn mind?" I laughed humorlessly. "Uh, yeah, I kinda did," I said, seriously. His expression softened a bit. "I think it might be worth a shot. I mean, we do have to live with these people."

"They'll probably gut you and string you up as a warning," he said.

"Well that's why I'm here. I need you to follow us, be our back up," I said.

"Does Finn know about this?" he asked.

"Finn doesn't need to know," I said. "And, Bellamy…bring guns." He nodded and I went to the gate to meet Finn. We slipped out with no questions asked and Finn led the way through the trees. "I'd love it if you were right about this, but did you ever consider it might be a trap?" I asked, as we got deep into the woods.

"Yep. But since it's Unity Day, I decided to have hope instead," he said. He stepped down a short drop off of dirt and audibly winced. "Oh, hey, let me have a look at that," I said. He stopped and unzipped his jacket, then lifted up his shirt. The stitched were still intact, but the wound was bruised deeply on all sides. "Seriously Finn, you're putting a lot of faith in a guy who stuck a knife in you," I said, as he pulled his shirt down and zipped up his jacket.

"And you're sounding more and more like Bellamy," he said.

"I'm just trying to keep us alive," I said.

"So am I," he said, with a curt nod. Then he turned and began walking again. While his back was to me, I dropped a handful of nuts on the ground. And then I high tailed it after him. We kept walking through until daylight. We ran most of the way and we came out of the trees at the start of a bridge. Octavia was standing on the bridge, waiting. "So that's how you set this up," I said, looking at Finn. "You helped him escape, didn't you?"

"I trust him, Clarke," she said.

"There's a lot of that going around," I said. The bushes rustled. "Someone's coming," Finn said. Suddenly, on the other side of the bridge, who I guessed was Lincoln came running out of the trees and onto the bridge. Octavia went running forward and I glanced down beside the bridge. Bellamy, Raven, and Jasper were getting into position with guns in hand. I turned my attention back to the bridge. Octavia ran into Lincoln's arms and I smiled, shaking my head. Of course, I should have seen it before. Octavia was in love with him. When they pulled away, Lincoln looked up at Finn and me.

Lincoln looked at me, and I took a step back. The lump in my throat was forming and my heart beat quickened. Finn grabbed my hand, holding me in place, and he pulled me forward. Suddenly, loud whinnies came through the trees as three Grounders on horses emerged. "Oh my g*d," I gasped. "Horses." I stared agape at the gorgeous beasts. Two Grounders that looked to me escorts rode jet black horses with lots of hair. Then the third Grounder, a woman, rode a petite chestnut colored horse.

Finn jogged forward, pulling me with him, and we came up beside Octavia and Lincoln. "Hey, we said no weapons!" Finn whisper-yelled at Lincoln.

"I was told there wouldn't be," Lincoln said.

"It's too late now," I said. Then Finn looked at me, and I nodded. We walked forward and Lincoln stopped Finn. "She goes alone," he said. Finn looked at me. "I'll be fine," I said.

"Taylor, I'm-"

"It's time to do better," I said. He nodded and I turned toward the other Grounders. Slowly, step-by-step, I forced myself to walk closer. The female Grounder dismounted her horse and came walking closer, also. I tried not to let my resolve falter as we met half way on the bridge. "Your name is Taylor?" she asked.

"Yes," I nodded.

"I'm Anya," she said.

"I think we got off to a rough start. But we wanna find a way to live together. In peace," I said.

"I understand," she said. "You started a war that you don't know how to end." I frowned. "What? No, we didn't start anything," I said, shaking my head. "You attacked us for no reason."

"No reason? The missiles you launched burned a village to the ground," she said.

"The flares? No, that was a signal, meant for our families. We had no idea-"

"You're invaders," she said. "Your ship landed in our territory."

"We didn't know anyone was here," I argued, calmly. "We thought the ground was uninhabited."

"You knew we were here when you sent an armed raiding party to capture one of us and torture him. These are all acts of war," she said. I nodded. "I see your point," I said. "And I'm sorry. But that's why we need to put an end to all of this." She seemed to relax a bit at that. "Lincoln said there are more of you coming down," she said, crossing her arms. "Warriors."

"The Guard, yes. But also farmers, doctors, engineers…we can help each other, but not if we're at war," I said.

"Can you promise that these new arrivals won't attack us? That they'll respect the terms you and I agree on?" she asked.

"I promise I will do everything I can to convince them to honor the terms that we set," I said.

"Why would agree on an alliance that your people can break the moment they get here?" she asked.

"If you fire the first shot, those people coming down won't bother negotiating," I said. "Our technology…they will wipe you out."

"They wouldn't be the first to try," she said.

"Taylor, RUN!" I heard Jasper's voice and then bullets flew into the trees. Anya pulled a knife and blood shot from her arm. She was hit. I whipped around and locked eyes with Bellamy, down below on the ground. "Taylor, get down!" Finn came running to me as bullets and spears flew through the air in all directions. I turned and dove onto the ground. An arrow stuck into the bridge a few inches from my head. I stared at it, wide eyed, and pulled me to my feet. He grabbed my arm and we sprinted to Lincoln and Octavia on the other end of the bridge.

We ducked as arrows flew over our heads. An arrow hit Lincoln, as he moved in front of Octavia, shielding her. It stuck in his chest area as Finn and I made it to the end of the bridge. "Okay, run, get behind your walls, take her!" Lincoln pushed Octavia into me and I grabbed her, pulling her with Finn and me. "Lincoln no!" she said.

"Go!" he said. Finn, Octavia and I ran through the trees, merging into Raven, Jasper, and Bellamy. We ran as fast as we could back toward camp. We finally stopped running once we got just outside camp. I bent over, bracing myself on my knees, panting. I stood up straight and Finn glared at me. "You got something to say?" Bellamy asked.

"Yeah, I told you no guns!" Finn yelled.

"Yeah, and I told you we couldn't trust the Grounders! I was right!" I said.

"Why didn't you tell me what you were up to?" Raven asked him.

"I tried, but you were too busy making bullets for you gun!" Finn said.

"You're lucky she brought that!" Bellamy said. "They came there to you, Finn."

"You don't know that! Jasper fired the first shot!" Finn said.

"You ruined everything," Octavia said, glaring at Jasper.

"I saved you!" Jasper said, as she walked away.

"Well if we weren't at war already," Finn said, as Jasper walked away. "We sure as h*ll are now." Finn gave me a serious look. "You didn't have to trust the Grounders. You just had to trust me," he said. He huffed and walked past me, Raven following. "Like I said, best Unity Day ever," Bellamy said. Something in the sky and a loud boom caught our attentions. I turned and looked up. "The Exodus ship? Your sister's early," Bellamy said. The ship was outlined purple as it shot through the sky. Then it began to burn up. "Wait…too fast, no parachute? Something's wrong," I said.

Then the ship flew to the right and disappeared behind the hills. A loud flash and black smoke followed. I gasped, tears forming in my eyes. My alleged sister was supposed to be on the first ship down, the Exodus ship. That was the Exodus ship. I dropped to my knees, unable to stand on them. "Oh no…" I said, tears rolling down from my eyes. "No…no, no, no, no!" Bellamy knelt down beside me and put a hand on my shoulder, as I stared at the black smoke. "Taylor…" he said. I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He hesitated a second, but put his arms around me. "Maybe there are survivors," he said.

"Did you see that explosion?" I asked, pulling back to look him in the eye. "No one could have survived that! No one!"

"I'm so sorry," he said, softly. He cupped my face with his hands, forcing me to look at him. "We'll go check it out, okay? You might be wrong." I nodded and sniffled. Slowly, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to my left cheek where a tear had rolled down, and then the other cheek. It was strangely calming, feeling his lips on my skin. He paused momentarily before pressing his lips to my jaw, then to my neck, making a trail of soft kisses. My eyes fluttered closed and a moan escaped my lips.

The breath in my lungs seized, making it hard to breathe right. It was hard to breathe at all. He trailed back up to my jaw, then across, pausing at my lips. I was frozen there, lips parted, waiting for his lips to connect to mine. He leaned forward, his lips less than an inch from mine. Before they could touch, I heard a snap of a twig and a voice. I jerked back from the sheer surprise of the unexpected interruption. Sawyer stood several feet away, looking p*ssed. I stood instantly, feeling my face flush. "Taylor, come with me," he said.

There was a tone in his voice that was demanding. I hadn't ever heard him sound that way. At least, not that I can remember. "Now," he said. I walked to him. "Sawyer, I can explain-" I said.

"Don't," he said. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into camp. He walked me to my tent and then let go. "Stay put," he said. He walked past me and I spun around. He walked to Bellamy—who was just coming in the gate—and, in a flash, his fist connected with Bellamy's jaw, sending him stumbling back. People gasped and murmured, stopping the party. "Sawyer!" I ran to him and grabbed his arm. "Stop it!" He ripped his arm from my grasp as Bellamy stood upright, wiping blood form his nose. "You wanna fight?" Bellamy said. "Is that what you want?"

"Yeah, that's what I want," Sawyer said.

"What? No! No one is fighting! Sawyer, you're being ridiculous," I said.

"I'm being ridiculous? He's the reason you can't remember anything, Taylor! And now you're kissing him?" Sawyer asked. He looked hurt and angry. I was shaking from the intense emotion I felt. "It was my fault, Sawyer," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Not Bellamy's."

"Don't defend him!" he said.

"I'm not! I'm only telling you what you told me. I stepped in front of that buckle knowing full-well that I could get hit. No one forced me to, I did it on my own," I said. Sawyer was still enraged, but he let out a loud huff and turned around, pushing some poor kid out of the way so he could leave. I watched him walk away, feeling guilty. Everyone was staring and I felt completely embarrassed. I turned and walked back towards my tent. I sighed, rubbing my left temple where a headache was forming.

I'd been getting bad headaches for the past few days, and it was starting to worry me. That and I've been feeling sick all week. Every time I wake up, I retch out everything I ate within the last forty-eight hours. I haven't talked to Clarke about it yet, but I'm starting to think I need to soon.


	11. Chapter Eleven: I Am Become Death

_Chapter Eleven: I Am Become Death_

**Taylor's POV**

Once again, I was sick this morning, but not too sick to go with the scout group heading out to go to the Exodus ship's crash site. There was charred rubble and large pieces of the ship strewn out for a mile or two. There were no survivors. Body pieces and burnt limbs lay around as I climbed up on a short hill. I could see the whole crash site. I heard a dripping noise and looked down. A reddish liquid dripped from a large piece of the ship. I bent and smelled the air. I jerked back, coughing at the toxic smell. "Taylor, stop!" Raven came running over.

"Rocket fuel?" I asked.

"Hydrazine. Highly unstable in it's non-solid form," she said, kneeling. "If this stuff meets fire, we're all paper weights." She grabbed a rock and dipped it in the liquid. Then she stepped back. "Fire in the hole!" she yelled. She chucked the rock to a burning pile of rubble. Once the rock hit the fire, it exploded. A blast of tall fire flashed upward and it smoked. "We need to clear the area!" she said, turning to Finn and Bellamy, who were a ways away.

"Okay then. We move in formation, no straggling, weapons hot! We've got to back before dark," Bellamy said. Raven followed me down the short hill to the others and we started back for camp. It was a long trip. A tiring trip. I walked in the back, looking up at the sky. I was going to meet the woman that claimed to be my sister. I was going to meet her face-to-face, on the ground, and she was supposed to explain everything. But now she's dead, along with all of the other parents on that ship.

"Hey," Bellamy said, slowing down to walk beside me. "You okay?" I glanced at him and then looked down at the ground. I shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, how would you feel? Not to mention I still feel queasy from this morning," I said. Every footstep made it worse. It jostled my stomach around and I felt like I was going to throw up any second. "Have you talked to Clarke about it?" he asked.

"No. Octavia knows by default," I said. "And Sawyer found out by accident."

"You don't want him to know?" he asked.

"No…I mean…I don't know. I don't want to worry everyone with something that isn't important. It's probably just aftershocks from the…you know…" I motioned to my head with two fingers and made a popping sound with my mouth. "Accident." He nodded and put an arm around my shoulders. The walk back to camp took a while longer than expected. It was several hours after nightfall that we arrived. When we walked into camp, Azalea came up to Bellamy. "Murphy's here," she said. "In the dropship."

"What?" Bellamy was visibly fuming, and he marched to the dropship. I followed him in. "Where is he?" he asked, as we entered. Murphy sat in a huddle on the floor, curling into the wall. He was covered in blood, beaten raw, and he was shaking badly. "Okay, everyone but Connor and Derek out," Bellamy ordered. "Now!"

"He claims he was with the Grounders," a kid said, as everyone exited except for Clarke, Finn, and me.

"We caught him trying to sneak back into camp," another kid said.

"I wasn't sneaking," Murphy said. "I was running from the Grounders."

"Anyone see Grounders?" Bellamy asked. Both Connor and Derek shook their heads. "Well in that case-" Bellamy aimed his gun at Murphy and Finn shoved the barrel down. "Hey, what the h*ll is wrong with you?" Finn said.

"We were clear on what would happen if he came back," Bellamy said. Finn stepped in front of him. "No! If he was with the Grounders than he knows things that can help us," Finn said.

"Help us? We hanged him, we banished him, and now we're gonna kill him. Get the h*ll out of my way," Bellamy said.

"No," Clarke said. "Finn's right." She moved past Bellamy and went over to Murphy. "Like h*ll he is! Clarke!" Bellamy protested. "Think about Charlotte."

"I am thinking about her," she said. "But what happened to Charlotte was as much our fault as it was his."

"I'm gonna go find Sawyer," I said. Bellamy nodded and I left the dropship. I didn't want to stand there and listen to them argue or look at some bloodied kid. I don't remember Murphy, but Octavia had told me all about what he'd done. And she told me about whom Charlotte was, too. And what Charlotte had done. I looked around for Sawyer but I couldn't find him anywhere. So I went to my tent and collapse onto my sleeping bag.

**Azalea's POV**

I was sitting with Raven while she tried to get a better radio signal back up and working for most of the morning. I liked Raven, she was cool. Plus I had nothing better to do. Clarke came into the tent. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here," she said. She looked pale and sweat beaded her forehead. Dark circles puffed up under her eyes. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

"Still nothing from the Ark. It's like they shut it down from their side," Raven said. "It could be solar flares blocking the signal."

"But you don't think so?" Clarke said.

"I got a bad feeling," Raven replied, shaking her head.

"There's a lot of that going around," Clarke said. She started to head out but Raven stopped her. "Clarke, wait," she said. "I'm sorry about your mom." Clarke looked like she was going to cry, and then tears of blood rolled down her cheeks. I jumped up to my feet. "Oh my g*d," Raven said.

"Your eyes," I said. Clarke blinked and wiped at her face. She saw the blood as someone yelled, "Clarke!" from outside. "Where's Clarke?" the same kid yelled. Clarke and I went outside the tent, only to find Connor around the side. He was bent over, holding his stomach. "It won't stop," he said.

"Clarke," Raven came out and gave Clarke a rag. Then at the fire behind us one of the kids threw up blood. He stumbled back a step, staring at the blood with wide, round eyes. "Raven, Azalea, get away from us," Clarke said.

"What?" I asked.

"We're the ones who brought Murphy in," Clarke said. She walked past Raven and me and headed to the dropship.

**Taylor's POV **

I lied out on my sleeping bag, reeling from a bad head ached. Octavia was lying on her stomach across her sleeping bag, looking through Lincoln's journal. Suddenly the flap on the tent whipped open. Octavia quickly hid the journal and I jumped, causing another round of throbbing. I groaned and grabbed my head as I sat up. "G*d, you scared me," Octavia said.

"How are you feeling?" Bellamy asked. I looked up curiously. "Fine," Octavia said. "Get out."

"You touch Murphy yesterday?" he asked. Octavia rolled over. "What?" she asked.

"Did you touch Murphy yesterday?" he asked, loudly and slowly.

"I don't know…I guess so. Why?" she asked.

"The Grounders sent him here with a virus to infect us. Derek just died from it," Bellamy said. "Another mark for your boyfriend's book. Get up. Clarke needs to examine you." Octavia scowled at Bellamy's comment, and Bellamy looked at me. "It's safer if you stay put, got it? Clarke thinks the virus is spread through contact, so don't touch anyone," he said. He slipped out of the tent before I could respond. Octavia stood and followed him out. A thought struck me and I froze. "Oh g*d…Sawyer!"

I jumped up and ran out of the tent. I hurried to the tent Sawyer shared with Sterling. "Sawyer? Are you there?" I called. There was no response, so I opened the flap. The tent was empty. Panic spread through me faster than I could process what was going on. What if Sawyer had the virus? I ran towards the dropship. Bellamy was coming out right as I was at the ramp. He grabbed me and pulled me away from the door. "Whoa, whoa, you can't go in there," he said.

"No, you don't understand," I said, backing up. "Sawyer was the one of the people that carried Murphy in. I can't find him anywhere-"

"He's in the dropship," he said, with a grim expression.

"I have to go in there," I said, moving forward. He grabbed me and pushed me back a step. "No way in h*ll am I allowing that," he said. "We don't need more of our people getting sick." I sighed and looked down, running my hands through my hair. "I have to!" I said, looking back up at him. "He's my brother, I can't just leave him!" Bellamy paused. "Sawyer's your brother?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yes, he's my twin, now please let me in there," I pleaded. He crossed his arms and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Taylor, but you're not sick and I want to keep it that way," he said. Clarke came out the door and Bellamy moved me back farther by several yards. Two other sick kids carried out the body of a girl that died from the virus. "Show's over," Bellamy said, to the group staring. "Get back to your posts." I walked closer but stayed several feet away. "Sawyer's in there?" I asked. Clarke nodded, looking at me sympathetically. "How bad is he?"

"Not as bad as he could be," she said. I'm sure it was an attempt to reassure me, but it didn't help. "You got enough food in there? Water?" Bellamy asked Clarke, stepping up beside me.

"Yeah," Clarke said. "Some medicine might be nice."

"I'll see what I can do," Bellamy said, sarcastically. "Octavia, you okay?" When there was no response, Clarke looked guilty. "She's not here. I sent her to see Lincoln. Look, if there's a cure, he has it. I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't let her go," she said.

"If anything happens to her, you and me are gonna have problems," he said. He turned and started walking away. "Bellamy, Bellamy!" she called after him but he wouldn't respond. Suddenly a new sick kid was found, and people pointed guns at him, saying, "Nobody touch him!"

"Get to the dropship! Now!" Bellamy said. The kid ran into the dropship, and then a girl passed out in the crowd. People caught her, but she splattered blood in someone's face. Everyone started panicking. Everyone started pointing guns at each other and yelling. I turned and grabbed a gun propped up on the side of the dropship. I pointed it at the sky and fired three shots. The crowd became silent and everyone stared at me. "This is exactly what the Grounders want," I said. "Don't you see that? They don't have to kill us, if we all kill each other first."

"They won't have to kill us if we all catch the virus! Get back in the d*mn dropship!" a kid shouted, aiming his gun and Clarke and I. Bellamy marched up behind him and grabbed the barrel of the kid's gun. He pointed it down and then shot the butt up, hitting he kid in the nose with it. Clarke was standing a few feet to my left. The kid staggered backwards. "I hate to state the obvious," Bellamy said, looking at Clarke. "But your quarantine isn't working." Suddenly, Clarke teetered and fell. Finn rushed forward and caught her. "Finn, don't touch her!" Raven shouted.

Finn picked Clarke up bridal style. "Hey, let me go," Clarke said, her voice faint and weak. "I'm okay."

"No you're not," Finn said.

"Octavia will come back with a cure," I said.

"There is no cure," Octavia said, jogging up in front of the crowd. "But the Grounders don't use the sickness to kill."

"Really? Tell that to them!" Bellamy pointed at the small pile of dead bodies by the dropship. "I warned you about seeing that Grounder again."

"Yeah, well, I have a warning for you, too. The Grounders are coming," Octavia said. "And they're attacking at first light." Octavia then ran forward to help Finn with Clarke, and Bellamy turned to Raven. "How many bullets can you make by first light?" he asked. They went walking towards the weapons tent and I stared at the dropship door, feeling completely helpless.

**Azalea's POV**

I was walking through camp, lugging more water for the sick kids in the dropship, when I spotted Bellamy a few feet ahead, talking to Jasper. He turned around and then fell into the tent beside him. "Bellamy!" Jasper said. I put down the water jugs and ran forward. "No! Stay back!" Bellamy said, holding a hand up at Jasper. "Make the shot. Find Finn. Go." I made it to the tent as Jasper was walking away. I knelt down. "No. You, too. Go," Bellamy said, waving me away.

"Yeah, that's gonna happen," I said. I grabbed his arm and hefted him up. It took a lot but I got him up to his feet and he leaned on me heavily. "You know you're gonna get sick now, right?" he said.

"Bellamy, please, I'm not doing this because I like you," I said, as I helped him towards the dropship. "I'm doing this for Taylor and Octavia." We made it up the ramp and into the dropship. "Clear some space!" Octavia shouted, running towards us. "Lay him down." Octavia hefted his other side and helped me get him on his back. Blood pooled in his mouth and Octavia rolled him onto his side, causing him to retch up more blood. "Hey big brother," Octavia said, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"I'm scared," he whispered.

"I won't let anything happen to you," Octavia said. "I promise." Octavia glanced up at me. "Thank you," she said. I nodded and walked over to the makeshift hammock Clarke was lying in. She was in a state in between consciousness and unconsciousness. I looked around and spotted Sawyer, sitting against the wall by himself. Blood stained under his nose and around his mouth. I walked over and sat down beside him. "Hey," I said. "You look tired. Why don't you get some rest?"

"I'm not gonna sleep. Not with him in here," he replied, jutting his chin in Murphy's direction. I nodded, pulling my knees up to my chest. I felt a tingling, tickling sensation in my nose. I quickly wiped at it with my fingers and, when I pulled them away, they were coated in hot, sticky blood. "If you're not going to sleep then do you mind if…" I gestured to his side.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead," he said, nodding. I shifted my position and leaned into Sawyer, resting my head on his shoulder. For the next hour, I was puking up my insides. I must have dozed off once or twice because when my eyes opened, everyone else was asleep, including Sawyer. Bellamy had just woken up, though. Murphy walked over and knelt beside him, holding out a canister of water. "Here," he said.

"Get the h*ll away from me," Bellamy said, pushing the canister away, spilling water. I wiped at my nose and found there was no blood. And I generally felt a little bit better. "Bellamy you're sick. I'm just trying to help," Murphy said. I stood, careful not to wake Sawyer, and walked over. "When I get better, if you're still here-" Bellamy said, darkly staring at Murphy.

"Hey," I interrupted, standing behind Murphy. Murphy glanced up at me. "I got this one." He stood and gave me the water canister. Murphy walked past me and I sat beside Bellamy. "Here," I said, giving him the water canister. He stared at me oddly. "You're feeling better?" he asked. I nodded. "Yeah," I said.

"That's good," he said. "Have you seen Octavia?" I shook my head. "No," I replied.

"It's almost dawn. We better get everyone inside. If we lock the doors, maybe the Grounders will think we're not home," Bellamy said.

"Not everyone's sick," I said.

"Sick is better than dead," he said.

"You don't think Finn and Jasper are gonna pull it off," I realized. He gave me a somewhat guilty expression. "Do you?" he asked, like he already knew the answer. I had faith in Jasper that he could make the shot to blow up the bridge and stop the Grounder attack. I didn't know much about Finn. But I believed in both of them to some extent. Honestly, though? Given the circumstances…. "I'll get everyone inside," I said. Bellamy and I went outside to round up all of the kids. It was light outside, probably around ten o'clock.

Suddenly, a loud boom distracted me when I was about to open my mouth to speak. I whipped around. To the left was a large mushroom cloud of black smoke. "He did it," Bellamy said, in amazement. Looking at the pillar of smoke made me think of something, and my mouth acted without my consent. "I am become death…destroyer of worlds," I said, quietly. Bellamy gave me a weird look. "It's Oppenheimer," I explained. "The man who built the first-"

"I know who Oppenheimer is," he said, with a small smile.

**Taylor's POV**

By the time Monty, Jasper, Finn, and Raven got back from the bridge, everyone who was sick was finally healed. Everyone was still a little weak, but they were okay. Sawyer came out of the dropship last. He looked insanely tired, but he was still standing. I ran up the ramp and threw my arms around him. He staggered back a few steps but quickly wrapped his arms around me, lifting my feet off the ground a bit. "I'm so glad you're okay," I said, tears of relief coming to my eyes.

"Me, too," he said.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," I said, stepping back to see his face. He grinned. "I'll try but, no guarantees," he said, with a light shrug. I smacked his arm playfully and he laughed. I hugged him again, and this time he was still. Realization set in that I had almost lost him. I had almost lost the one person I have lived my whole life to protect to something I couldn't fight. And I couldn't have done anything to stop it. Tears streamed down my face as I said, "Please don't ever leave me. I can't lose you, too."

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere," he said.

"There! It's them!" Harper said, who was standing at the top of the fence around the camp. "Open the gate!" Everyone started cheering and I turned around, wiping my eyes. I clapped along and smiled. Jasper and Monty came in the gate first. "Monty, my man!" Sawyer hollered.

"Go Jasper!" I shouted. Next, Finn came in the gate, helping Raven. She looked like she was feeling the effects of the virus. I moved down the ramp and went over to help just as Clarke did. We got her inside the dropship and onto one of the hammocks. Clarke checked her pulse after a while. "She's getting stronger," she said. She motioned for me to follow her as she headed for the exit. I followed her out and she said, "Let's give them some space, okay?" I nodded and she went off to do whatever Clarke's do after a virus.

**Azalea's POV**

I was getting water with Sterling when they got back to camp. So I only heard about when we'd come back, about a half hour or so later. I gave the jugs I carried to Harper and ran off to find Jasper. He was talking with some kids by the dropship when I found him, in one piece. I was so relieved. "Jasper!" I ran at him and threw my arms around him.

"Whoa!" he said, in surprise. Not expecting me and my weight, he toppled backwards and hit the ground. He groaned but smiled, and I laughed. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his, overwhelmed with relief and joy. He kissed me back after a split second of a delay from shock, and slid a hand into my hair. I pulled back after a minute and smiled. "I'm so happy you blew up the bridge and came back alive," I said.

"I'm so happy that you're not dead from the virus and you're here kissing me," he said. I laughed and sat up, straddling his lap, and then he sat up as well. "We should celebrate," I said.

"Got anything particular in mind?" he asked, his lips hovering over mine.

"I have a few ideas," I said.

**Taylor's POV**

It was after dark and torches were lit. Everyone seemed nervous but yet happy at the same time. I'd been meaning to talk to Bellamy about something for a couple of days now, but I hadn't been able to find the courage to do it. But tonight I felt it was the right time, given the fact that we could possibly die soon from a Grounder attack. I walked to the gate just as Clarke was coming in. "Hey, have you seen Bellamy?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's right outside," she said, then past me. I walked outside and found him standing by the now fourteen graves outside the wall. I stood beside and he glanced at me. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.

"I need to talk to you about something," I said. He gave me a curious expression with one eyebrow raised. "I've been meaning to apologize for how I acted before. From what I gather, I wasn't the best person in the world to you," I said. He turned to me with his arms crossed, a sigh escaping his lips. "There really isn't anything to apologize for," he said.

"Yes, there is. I was a complete b***h, and I had no right to be. You didn't deserve to be treated that way and I-" I said.

"Taylor," he interrupted. "Stop. It's okay. I wasn't the best person to you, either."

"I was worse," I said, and he chuckled lightly. Then his face grew serious as he looked down. "Every day," he said, quietly.

"What?" I asked, completely confused.

"I play the night that I hit you back in my head every day. You lost almost all your memories, memories of your family, and it's my fault," he said. His voice was completely guilt-ridden and I felt the urge to hug him. I felt bad for how I treated Bellamy. But the way he sounded…he felt a whole lot worse. "Bellamy…_I_ jumped in front of that buckle. _I_ knew the consequences," I said, jabbing a thumb at my chest.

"Yeah, and _I_ knew the consequences for capturing the Grounder in the first place," he said, looking at me. His expression was worn, but serious. He was so determined to blame himself for everything, and he had no reason to. "You couldn't have known that would happen-" I said.

"No. You're right, I couldn't have. But I _should_'ve," he said.

"I don't blame you," I said, slowly. "Me, the one who got injured." He stared at me with a shocked expression. "Why not? After what I did-" he said.

"What you did saved Finn's life. And it made me change my ways for the better. You did good, Bellamy," I said. He searched my eyes for something I couldn't identify, then he stepped forward, closing the gap between us. My heart beat picked up until I felt like it was going to leap from my body. A mess of butterflies flapped their wings in my stomach, swirling and swirling in tight circles. He was close enough that his chest touched mine. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and his hand fell to rest on the back of my neck.

He leaned down inch-by-inch until his lips just barely brushed mine. The contact ignited a fiery tingling sensation in my chest and my lips craved more, _needed_ more. I rose up a bit on my toes and pressed my lips to his.


	12. Chapter Twelve: The Calm

_Chapter Twelve: The Calm_

**Felicity's POV**

_What's going on?_ I thought, stumbling to my feet. I coughed hoarsely, unable to get enough air. I tried to think back to what had happened before I found myself on the floor, my ankle bleeding and my head throbbing. All I could remember was walking through the hall with Karlie and- Oh g*d. Karlie. I pushed myself up to sit. "Karlie?" I called out, coughing. "Karlie, are you okay?" I heard coughs and immediately felt relieved. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said. I grabbed onto the wall and pulled myself up to stand.

The hallway was dark, but I could see light from a window up ahead. I turned and looked at Karlie, who was slumped against the wall. For a moment, I thought she was Taylor. But I blinked and she was Karlie again. "Are you hurt at all?" I asked. She shook her head and stood. "No. You?" she asked.

"Just my ankle," I said. "We should get to-"

"Felicity…" I turned and looked at her again. There was blood pooling on her shirt, near the left side of her rib cage. I gasped. I quickly put pressure on the wound and she leaned into me, suddenly unable to stand on her own. I started an Apprenticeship to become a Doctor a year after Taylor and Sawyer were taken. I now qualify as a nurse, but I didn't know what to do in a situation like this. My mind was a bit scatterbrained and I couldn't think. "Hold on, okay?" I told her. She nodded weakly and I looked down the hallway. "Help! Somebody, help!" I yelled.

No answer came. I helped Karlie to sit down, making sure to keep my hands on the wound. I moved them just a bit to look. The wound was a deep gash, maybe two inches to three inches deep. "Am I gonna die?" Karlie asked.

"No," I said, shaking my head feverently. "No, you're going to make it."

"Hello? Is anybody there? Hello?" I heard the distant voice of someone father down the hall. I snapped to attention. "Yes! Here! Help!" I yelled. Footsteps echoed and then a man came around the corner of the hallway. He rushed over and knelt down opposite me. It was Vice Chancellor Kane. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"She has a really deep cut to her abdomen," I said. "She's losing a lot of blood."

"We can make a temporary bandage until we get her to Medical," he said, tearing some fabric off the bottom hem of his shirt. Karlie was dosing off and I felt a pang of panic. "No, Karlie, stay awake," I said. She moaned in pain and opened her eyes. "Just keep looking at me, okay? I won't let you die," I said. Kane and I fashioned a bandage. It wasn't much, but it covered the wound and held together pretty well. "What's your name?" he asked me.

"Felicity," I said. "Felicity James."

**Azalea's POV**

"Fire! Fire!" Everyone began screaming and I ran out of my tent. The meat curing shack we had set up was burning to the ground. Everyone was running away and I went closer, as I saw Bellamy was pulling Octavia from the building. I hurried over to her. "Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded, coughing a bit.

"This is all your fault!" Murphy said, standing and charging towards the other kid from the tent. "She told you it was too much wood!"

"Get the h*ll away from me!" the kid said. Murphy hit him a couple of times and Bellamy wrestled his way between them. "Save it for the Grounders," he told murphy.

"Bell, now what the h*ll are we gonna do?" Octavia said. "That was _all the food_." After waiting for the fire to burn itself out, Bellamy and Clarke investigated and took stock of what food was left in the dropship—Wild Onions and some nuts. Bellamy called everyone possible into the dropship to form hunting parties. On my way to the dropship to join, Taylor fell into step with me. "Hey," she said. "Could we talk for a second?"

"I actually have to do something right now. Can we talk later?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure," she said, but I couldn't mistake that tinge of disappointment in her voice. She followed me into the dropship. "Each group takes someone with a gun. They're for killing Grounders not food. We don't have the ammo. We'll use the spears for hunting. Get what you can and be back by nightfall. No one stays out after dark," Bellamy instructed, as we walked in. I went to the weapons rack and grabbed a spear as Clarke came over, followed by Finn and Taylor. "Ready to hunt?" Taylor asked, standing next to me.

Clarke eyed Finn. "Um…I don't think so," she said to him.

"Oh come on," Finn said. "I'm a good tracker, you're lousy with a spear but you're sneaky. I think we would make a good team."

"Hey partner, you ready?" some kid asked, stepping up behind Clarke. "Hey, Finn. You joining the band?" Finn nodded "Cool," the kid said. "I haven't gotten a chance to hang out with you guys much. Did I ever tell you how I got arrested?" They walked out of the dropship and Taylor grabbed a gun. "Looks like you're stuck with me," she said.

"Let's just get this over with," I said, as we headed out.

**Felicity's POV**

I stood and shifted my weight so I wasn't standing on my bleeding ankle, and moved to help Karlie up as well. Kane saw my ankle and stopped me. "Wait. You're bleeding," he said. "That needs to be bandaged." I sat down and stretched out my leg. It was stinging badly. Kane scooted over and examined my ankle. It had gotten some serious whiplash, tearing the flesh in several places. I had put my jacket on Karlie. So I took off my long-sleeved shirt, leaving me with my tank top, and gave it to Kane. "We can use this as a bandage," I said.

He nodded and ripped off a good piece, then began wrapping around my ankle. "I recognize your name," he said, glancing at me for a second.

"That makes sense," I nodded. "You were at my parents' trial. When my brother and sister were arrested?" He paused. "Mathias James was your father?" he asked. I nodded again. He ripped off another piece of fabric to bandage my ankle. "He was a good man," he said.

"Yeah, he was," I said. "You know, my siblings are on Earth right now."

"Really?" he said, finishing up with the bandage. "Have you spoken with them?"

"I did. But my sister didn't remember me, though. She had a head injury. Now I'm not sure that she'll ever know me," I said.

"She'll know you when you see her on the ground," he said. He stood and helped me up to stand.

Karlie was barely conscious as I hefted her body weight down a hallway, her head on my shoulder. Kane led the way just in front of us. "Anybody there?" He'd call out routinely, in case someone else needed help nearby. "Hello?" We came around a corner. There were some things scattered on the floor in front of an open cabinet. One of the things on the floor was a flash light. Kane picked it up and turned it on. Thank g*d it still worked. Suddenly barely audible voices echoed in the distance.

Kane shined the flash light in that direction. "Hello?" he called. No one responded and he glanced back at me before continuing forward. It was hard to carry Karlie, but she could still stand for the most part. "Hello?" Around another corner, slumped against the wall, mumbling things, was a man. Kane knelt in front of him and shook him. "Hey. Hey, can you hear me?" he said. The man startled awake, shouting, "What do you want?" Then his eyes narrowed as he saw Kane. "Counselor sir?"

"It's Wick. From Engineering. Sinclair's Apprentice," Kane said.

"Yeah. He had me come down here to override the containment codes," Wick said. "To keep the doors open. Don't tell him I messed up." It was only then I noticed his arm was stuck in between the doors behind him. I gently sat Karlie down against the opposite wall and walked back over to Kane and Wick. "Hey, you didn't mess up," Kane said to Wick.

"We need to get your arm free," I said, grabbing hold of the door. Kane grabbed the other door and we both pulled. "Yeah, let's…let's do that," Wick said, sarcastically. I let go of the door while Kane kept pulling. "Did you see anyone else down here?" I asked Wick.

"No. I heard there was a hole breach in Engineering," he replied.

"There was a breach?" Kane asked, as he stopped pulling. Wick nodded. "What the h*ll happened, anyway?" he asked. Kane snorted. "We were betrayed," he said, starting to pull again.

"Felicity?" I heard Karlie's voice and turned. She was awake. I hurried over beside her and knelt down. "Hey. How are you feeling?" I asked. She swallowed and looked at me, her eyes full of fear. "I'm not gonna make it, am I? Felicity, just tell me," she said, her voice trembling.

"Councilor Sydney…took the Exodus ship by force," I heard Kane say behind me. I looked at Karlie. I didn't want to tell her the truth. That I didn't know, or that I was fairly certain there was no chance that we'd make it to Medical in time to save her. Karlie closed her eyes as water was filling them, leaning her head back, and a tear rolled down her right cheek. "…damage to the Ark was catastrophic," Kane said.

"What a b***h," Wick said. "You know my mom voted for her."

"I can't open these doors without some help," Kane said.

"Don't leave me here man," Wick said.

"I'm not leaving you here," Kane said. He walked down the hall to the open cabinet and I turned back to Karlie. "When did you last see Rossa?" she asked. I had to think hard on that question. When had I last seen her? We were at the Unity Day ceremony a few days ago. Then I saw her yesterday at the Exchange. I hadn't seen her today, though. "Yesterday," I said.

"We have to find her," Karlie said, grabbing my hand. "What if she's hurt, too?"

"Don't worry," I said, taking her hands in mine. "We'll find her." I heard grunting and the swishing sound of the doors and twisted around. "Oh my g*d, thank you, that was grea- ah!" Wick said. Kane pulled him to his feet, the doors open behind him. Then Kane turned to me. "Come on," he said. "We need to move. Can you carry her?"

"Yeah, I've got her," I said, standing. I pulled Karlie to her feet and she cried out in pain. She heled onto me and we shuffled through the doors, right behind Kane and Wick. "I can hear the pumps. I think the vents are working up ahead," Wick said.

"Let's go," Kane nodded. "There could be others." A ways down another hallway was a dead end and a door. People were piled up against the wall. I sat Karlie down and rushed forward. Everyone was alive, but they couldn't breathe very well due to the low oxygen levels. I found a box and brought it over towards the group. I opened it and, just like I'd thought, it was full of oxygen masks. I grabbed one and brought it over to Karlie, whilst Kane passed them out to everyone.

Wick was checking the vents. "How's the air in here?" Kane asked him.

"Cr*ppy," Wick replied. I knelt by Karlie and put the mask in her hand. "Here," I said. "Breathe." I helped her put it to her face and she took a deep breath. "I'm gonna see the next few Compartments," Kane said, walking towards the hallway. Wick stood and followed him. "Whoa, hey, you sure you wanna do that?" he asked. "This ship took a lot of damage. You walk through the wrong door and you could be stepping out into space."

"We need to keep moving," Kane said, his tone hushed. "The air in here could turn bad at any time."

"Well, at least we're breathing. The CO2 scrubbers down here kicked back on," Wick said. I stood and walked over to him. "They can restart themselves?" I asked Wick.

"No, the electrical fire blew out a DCDU, everything's on manual," he said. Kane put his hands near a vent. "Does it feel like it's getting cooler in here to you?" he asked.

"I don't feel it," Wick said.

"Can someone restart the Central Cooling Exchangers on this level?" I asked.

"No," Wick said. "Not to the rest of the primary board."

"We need to get these people moving," Kane said.

"Move 'em where?" Wick asked.

"The cooling air. It's a message. There's someone alive in Earth Monitoring," I said. Wick looked between Kane and I like we were crazy. "The air is a message…okay," he said. "Okay, you have Hypoxia. Alright? So you're, you're working with about ten percent of your brains."

"We need to get them moving _now_," Kane said. "I am not gonna let these people die here." I walked back over to Karlie to check on her. She was barely awake. Kane and Wick managed to get everyone to their feet and had them moving to the hallway. A hand touched my shoulder and I startled. "Hey," Kane said. "We're leaving now. Come on." I hefted Karlie to her feet, ignoring the pain in my ankle, and followed. We went a long ways down the hallways until we came to another dead end. "Rest in peace, Earth Monitoring," Wick said.

The door was shut behind debris. "We'll use Passageway four," Kane said.

"No, we got a jammed Pressure Door between us and Pass four," Wick said. "And we can't get through here. It's game over man."

**Taylor's POV**

Azalea and I got back to camp just after dark with the other hunting parties. I hadn't seen Finn or Clarke since the dropship, and I was a bit worried. But this was Finn and Clarke. They were probably going to be back any time now. Sawyer met me at the gate and gave me a hug. "Hey," he said. "I wish you would've told me you were leaving." I winced. "Did I forget to do that?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah…yeah, you did," he said, slowly.

"Sorry," I said. I glanced over his shoulder and caught eyes with Bellamy for a second before he looked away. "Could we discuss my punishment later?" I asked. He sighed. "Fine. Go hang out with your boyfriend," he said, gesturing in Bellamy's direction. I scoffed and he chuckled lightly. "Okay, be that way," I said, with overly fake sarcasm. I flicked my hair over my shoulder and strode away, making him laugh harder. I glanced back at him and smiled as I walked. "Having fun?" Bellamy asked, when I reached him.

He sounded serious but he had a small smile on his face. "Maybe," I smiled. "Any sight of Clarke and Finn out there?" He shook her head with a questioning expression. "No, not at all," he said.

"I wonder where they got to. Do you think they'll be okay on their own? Maybe we should go look for them?" I suggested.

"They'll be fine. They've got a gun with them," Bellamy said, and I nodded. He turned towards me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me into him. He rested his hands on my hips. "They'll be okay," he said.

"I know, I just….I couldn't imagine leaving them out there and then something happened to them," I said.

"Don't worry about it," he said, caressing my cheek. "Okay?" I nodded, letting out a breath. "Okay," I said. He kissed my forehead then stepped away. "I've gotta go get something from my tent. Meet me at the butterfly field in five minutes," he said, before walking away.

**Bellamy's POV**

I walked into my tent, lifting up the flap. Of all the people I expected to see in my tent, Raven was probably the last. "What are doing in here?" I asked. I tried to hide my annoyance the best I could. I put my gun down and she turned toward me. "They don't waste time, I'll give 'em that. What's it been? A day and a half?" she said.

"You're mistaking me for someone who cares," I said. "Time to move on." Raven took off her jacket and shoes. I stood rooted to my spot. "What are doing?" I asked.

"Moving on," she said.

"No, Raven, I'm not doing this with you," I said. She stood and pulled her hair tie out. I grabbed her arms to stop her. "Raven, get out," I said. She moved forward quickly and kissed me. I jerked back, out of her reach. I wiped my mouth off with the back of my hand. Raven didn't stop there. She pulled her shirt over her head, exposing her bare chest and looked away the best I could in the small space. Suddenly, Taylor came in the tent, and my heart dropped. "It's been fifteen minutes, what are you…" her voice trailed off.

She glanced at Raven then at me, then at Raven. "Taylor, I can explain," I said. "This isn't what it looks like." Her expression changed to one of sheer hurt and I felt a pang of sharp pain in my chest. She couldn't think this was what it looked like. It looked like Raven and I were going to sleep together while Taylor was waiting for me at the butterfly field. "Taylor, please, I-" I said.

"Don't," she said. It sounded like she choked on the word, as she stared at me with water filling her eyes. "Just…don't." She turned and left the tent, and anger boiled inside me. I grabbed Raven's clothes and shoved them into her arms. "Get dressed and be out by the time I get back," I said. I left the tent and looked for Taylor. She was walking in the opposite direction several yards ahead. I jogged to catch up to her. "Taylor," I said.

"Leave me alone, Bellamy," she said, picking up the pace, like that would stop me. I pursued, refusing to let her think I was going to do anything with Raven. "Taylor, stop," I said. I caught her arm and she stopped, spinning on me. She yanked her arm out of my grasp and slapped me. My cheek stung from the hit but I wasn't wavered. "I guess all the things Azalea told me about you were true, huh? Shame on me," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Taylor…please," I pleaded. She backed away, shaking her head. "Stay away from me," she said. Then she turned and walked away, leaving me confused as to which emotion I should be feeling. Anger because of what Raven caused, or pain because the only girl I love besides my sister is no longer mine?

**Felicity's POV**

They got the door to Earth Monitoring open and Kane and Wick got inside first. "Everyone gets air," Kane said, opening a box of oxygen masks. I carried Karlie in and froze at the sound of a familiar voice. "Felicity?" My head whipped in her direction so fast, I thought my neck would break. "Oh my g*d! Rossa!" I said. Her tan skin was smudged with dirt and she was panting, but she looked unharmed. She moved forward as fast as she could and wrapped her arms around Karlie and me.

I wrapped my free arm around her neck. The air was incredibly thin, causing labored breathing in all of us, but especially Karlie. Ross stepped back and shifted Karlie to her shoulder instead of mine. My ankle was killing me. It burned and throbbed and I glanced down. The makeshift bandages were red, soaked through. Rossa carried Karlie over to the far wall and sat her down. She was exhausted. I didn't know how much longer Karlie could last. I turned and limped my way over to Kane and Chancellor Jaha, who had also been in the room.

The Chancellor looked at me and I felt my skin begin to crawl. He was the man that floated my parents, that arrested my siblings. Yes, he was doing his job as Chancellor. But that doesn't mean I forgive him for approving it. "I need to get to Medical, see if I can get any supplies. Karlie might not last much longer," I said.

"It's not safe to go wondering through the Ark, looking for medical supplies," Jaha said.

"With all due respect, sir, I wasn't talking to you," I said. He gave me a blank expression. "Felicity," Kane said. "He's right. It's not safe. I'm sorry about Karlie, but you can't go out there alone." I crossed my arms loosely. "I can handle it. Plus it isn't just Karlie that needs those supplies. Everyone has various injuries, and I'm a registered nurse," I said. "I just came over to tell you I was leaving." I turned and grabbed one of the free oxygen masks and shoved it into my back pocket.

I grabbed an available flash light and pushed up the switch. It didn't turn on so I smacked it against my hand. Rossa came to my side. "Felicity, she's not looking so good," she said, in a hushed tone. I nodded. "I know. I'm going to go try and find some supplies, okay? I'll be back soon," I said. She took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "Be careful," she nodded. I nodded in response and headed to the door. The flashlight turned on after a few more smacks. "Hey guys I found something," Wick said. Being the overly curious person I am, I paused to hear what he said. "I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Wick has trouble with protocol," Sinclair said.

"What did you find?" Jaha asked.

"Data from the Exodus launch. The monitor says that Service Hatch Beta was manually sealed before before the launch, from our side," Wick said.

"There was someone in the Service Bay," Kane said.

"Were they survivors? Or people who jumped ship at the last moment?" Jaha suggested.

"Or maybe Sydney threw 'em off because they were a threat," Kane said. "Could they still be alive in the Service Bay?"

"Well, sure, if they hunkered down and got lucky. But not for long," Wick answered. Rossa came over to me with an urgency I'd never seen in her. "Izabella might be there," she said, quickly.

"...how do we get to them?" I heard Kane ask. Rossa tugged on my arm, drawing my attention. She raised her eyebrows and bit her bottom lip. "We have to go find her," she said. I looked over at Karlie, slumped on the floor against the wall, unconscious. "What if going to save Izabella costs Karlie's life?" I asked.

"What, you're saying I need to choose?" she spat. I shook my head with a scoff. "No! It's the Oxygen Deprivation talking. Listen to me, Rossa," I said. "If I go find Izabella, will you stay here with Karlie?" She nodded feverently. "Yes," she said.

"Try to keep her awake, okay?" I said. She nodded and I walked past her with a sigh. Karlie was my best friend. She was only a year older than my siblings, she was so young. So much more life to live. I hardly knew Izabella, but Rossa did. Inside I was conflicted. Everything in me wanted to help both of them, but I could only help one. What if Karlie bled out while I was gone because Rossa didn't know how to stop it? What if Rossa went to find Izabella but she needed medical attention, and Izabella died because I wasn't there? "We could try to Maintenance Shaft, it's sealed on both sides so you'd have pressurization," Wick said, as I joined the conversation.

"And it's pressed right up against the fuel pods. Without power to the coolant system, it'll be hot as hell in there," Sinclair said.

"I have to try," Kane said, glancing at Jaha. He walked towards the door and I followed. I caught up with Kane in the hallway. "Why are you coming?" he asked, without stopping.

"My friend's friend was in the Service Bay," I said. "She might still be alive."

"Hey!" Wick said, jogging to catch up. Kane stopped and so did I. Wick handed a large battery system to Kane. "You'll need this battery to open up the door to the Bay." Wick turned and pried the door off of the small Maintenance hatch with a groan. He peeked inside and then turned back to us. "It's not that hot. Sinclair doesn't know what he's talking. So, it's a little warm," he said.

"So, you're not going to talk me out of going?" Kane asked Wick. Wick shook his head with a sarcastic expression. "Nope," he said. Kane nodded and moved to climb into the shaft. "When you die can I have your shoes?" Wick asked him, stopping him from going in momentarily. Kane chuckled. "They're much too stylish for you," he said, patting Wick's shoulder. Wick laughed and Kane began climbing into the shaft. After a minute, I followed into the shaft. As soon as I was in, my face was blasted with waves of heat radiating from all sides. "Oh, yeah. A little warm, huh, Wick?" I called over my shoulder.

All I heard was him laughing. I rolled my eyes and kept my head down. My arms touched hot metal and I bit my lip to keep from screaming. It became hotter and hotter as I went, and my eyes watered, bone dry. Kane stopped up ahead to punch out a grate. It was slow going, and every second longer I spent in that shaft, the more my arms stung. It felt like the flesh of my forearms were melting away and all that was left was bone on the hot metal pipes below me. I crawled through the grate and Kane pulled the steaming lever to the door with a groan up ahead.

He fell out into darkness and I reached the end a second later. "Oh my g*d," I wheezed, as Kane grabbed my arms to pull me out. My arms were beat red when I stood. But now it was much cooler, and I could breathe a little bit better. "Are you alright?" Kane asked, and I nodded. He turned to the Bay door. It was pressure sealed. Air tight. He moved to the Power Box and worked on attaching the battery, while I sat. My legs felt like pudding, the backs of my arms felt like hot coals, and my face felt melted.

Once the battery was attached, the door opened. I hurried to my feet and followed Kane in. There were several people lying about, and I shined my flashlight to look for Izabella. Sure enough, she was lying on the far end of the room, her blonde hair a fan behind her across the floor. I rushed over and knelt beside her. "Izabella," I gently shook her. "Can you hear me?" She stirred slightly a moaned, forcing her eyes to open into small slivers. "F…Felicity?" she asked.

I nodded and pushed her hair out of her face. "Don't worry. You're safe now."


	13. Chapter Thirteen: We Are Grounders (1)

_Chapter Thirteen: We Are Grounders (Part One) _

**Felicity's POV**

"Every simulation's been written. Every system modification has been made. The hard and simple fact is that, in fifty-one hours, the Ark will no longer be possible. I choose to find consolation in the remarkable truth—the surviving members of the hundred have proven themselves to be more resilient than we could have ever imagined," Chancellor Jaha sat in his seat at the table in the Council Chamber. The only other surviving member of the Council was Kane, and he sat in his seat, across from Jaha.

I stood near the door with Rossa, Karlie, and Izabella. Karlie leaned on me but she was doing better. The depression in the room at that moment was so thick, you could almost see it. "Our legacy will go on. And for that, I am now great-full. I am proud."

"So what do we tell our constituents to do now?" a woman asked, standing in the front. "What do we do now?" The Chancellor was quiet for a long pause. "Look inside. Find your peace. In the meantime, I am releasing all available resources to the surviving citizens of the Ark. There will be no more rationing. What we have belongs to all of us," he said. He adjourned the meeting and everyone filed out except for Kane and the Chancellor.

**Taylor's POV**

I sat just outside the wall. Thankfully, Bellamy was overseeing the land-mining on the other side of camp right then. At least this way I had a little time to myself. I couldn't believe what Bellamy had done. Of all the things he could've been doing when I walked in, he had to be with Raven? I thought Raven was still with Finn. Why was she half-naked in Bellamy's tent if she's still with Finn? I'd been racking my brain for hours, trying to reason with myself. An endless supply of water seemed to inhabit my eyes I sat alone.

Even though we hadn't known each other for long, there seemed to be a connection between Bellamy and me. I don't know; maybe I was reading too much into things. Maybe I'm gullible to think it was real. But it had felt real, for the short time it lasted. "Hey," Octavia said, sitting beside me. I wiped at my eyes but it didn't help. It didn't stop the pain, or the tears. She put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "I'm sorry my brother's such a d*ck," she said.

"Eh, it's not your fault he can't keep it in his pants," I said. She chuckled a little at that, but still looked sympathetic. "He told me Raven was trying to force herself on him, and he rejected her," she said, and I scoffed, shaking my head.

"Doesn't surprise me," I said.

"I know he can be a total a** half the time…but…maybe he's telling the truth, Tay?" she said, quietly. I turned to her. "What? I saw them-!"

"What exactly did you see?" she asked, titling her head.

"I…" I paused, trying to recall exactly what I saw. Suddenly loud shouts came from inside camp, and Sawyer ran to Octavia and I like his butt was on fire. He skidded to a brief stop, panting. "Guys, come quick…Murphy…Jasper…dropship…not good," he wheezed, shaking his head.

**Azalea's POV**

Again, I'd been out getting water when something exciting happened. Except it wasn't exciting like I was happy about it. It was terrifying. I ran through the fox hole and darted across camp to Bellamy, Octavia, Sawyer, and Taylor at the dropship. "I just heard Murphy has Jasper," I said.

"Yeah. South fox hole done?" Bellamy asked. I frowned. "What? Bellamy my friend's in there with a killer!" I said.

"Come on, look around. No one's working. If the Grounders attack us right now we're all dead," he said. I sighed deeply and marched past him. "MURPHY! MURPHY IF YOU EVEN _TOUCH_ JASPER, I SWEAR TO GOD, YOU'RE DEAD!" I screamed, at the closed door.

"I've got this," Bellamy said, beside me.

"Really? Because it doesn't look like you're doing anything about it, Bellamy," I said. Suddenly, Raven walked up to Sawyer, who was behind Bellamy. "You were right," she told him. "There's a panel in the back, if we can pop it, we can get in through a loose panel in the floor."

"Good. Do it," Sawyer said. Raven nodded and hurried away, and I couldn't help but notice Taylor's sour expression. What had I missed? Bellamy held the walkie to his lips. "Murphy, I know you can hear me. All of our weapons are on the first level. You're leaving us vulnerable to an attack, and I can't let that happen," he said.

"_Yeah, well, in case you haven't notice, you're not_ _exactly in control right now_," Murphy said, through the radio.

"Come on Murphy. You don't wanna hurt Jasper, you wanna hurt me," Bellamy said. "So what do you say? How about you trade him for me?" Octavia stepped forward. "No!" she said.

"All you have to do is open the door, and I'll take his place," Bellamy said, ignoring his sister. There was a short pause. "_How?_" Murphy asked.

"If you do this, he'll kill you," Octavia said.

"If I don't, he'll kill Jasper," he replied. He held up the walkie. "Simple. Open the door, I walk in, he walks out." There was another pause, only this one was longer. Then the dropship door started lowering open. "Just you Bellamy! Ten seconds or I'll put one in Jasper's leg!" Murphy called out. Murphy started counting, and Bellamy gave Octavia his radio. They said something quietly that I couldn't hear, and then Bellamy walked inside. Jasper came rolling out a second later, hands tied behind his back and gagged. I dropped to my knees beside him and pulled the gag from his mouth.

Taylor and I got the rope off his wrists and pulled him to his feet as the dropship door closed. Taylor and Jasper went around the side of the dropship to help Raven.

**Taylor's POV**

Jasper pulled open the panel and Raven crawled in. I crawled in next, and Jasper followed, quietly closing the door. Raven turned on a flashlight. "Cool," she said, admiring the dropship's system.

"Stop thinking like a mechanic and find me something to shoot through," Jasper grumbled.

"Well, this mechanic is gonna hot wire the door," Raven said, pulling open a small compartment.

"There's that," Jasper said. Jasper walked over to the ladder and hatch. "Locks from above. Forget it," I said, looking to the left of him for a hole.

"D*mn it," he said. "He's up there because of me!" I shushed him loudly. "Quiet, Betty-Big-Mouth," I whispered.

"Help me find the tore circuit," Raven said.

"We lost Clarke," Jasper said. "We can't lose Bellamy, too."

"Jasper," I said, walking to him. "Shut up. They are, like, right above your head."

"Good. Then I'll shoot through the floor," Jasper said, as we resumed looking. As much as it pained me to be trapped down here with Raven, I felt the urge to help get Bellamy out. And if working with her was what I had to do, then I guess I'm working with Raven. Jasper held up his gun, aiming at the ceiling, and Raven grabbed the barrel of the gun. "Bad idea," she said. She tapped a canister of Hydrazine above us. "Holy cr*p," I said. "There's tons of it."

"The engines fired on the way down. We could make more bombs," Jasper said. Canisters of Hydrazine lined the ceiling. "Yeah, we'll put it on our to-do list. But from now on, no shooting. You got me?" Raven said, looking at Jasper. Suddenly there was a gunshot right above us and my heart sank.

**Bellamy's POV**

"That's good," Murphy said. He motioned with his gun to his right. "Then do what I said." Octavia's voice came through the walkie in Murphy's pocket, full of worry. "_Bellamy?_" she asked, weakly. Murphy smirked and pulled out the radio. "_Bellamy, are you okay_?"

"Wanna let her know you're alive?" Murphy asked, holding out the radio. "Start tying." I got on the floor and started tying a noose, as told. "I'm fine," I said, as Murphy held down the radio button. "Miss fire. Now stop worrying about me and get back to work, all of you. And tell Raven to hurry her a** up."

"Alright that's long enough," Murphy said, putting the radio away. As I tied the noose, I thought about how ironic it was. I was making the thing that would kill me. I traded my life for Jasper's, knowing I would die…but now it seemed real. "Alright, now get up and toss it over," Murphy said, as I finished. He jutted his chin up at a beam. I glanced up at it and inwardly grimaced. I stood and took the end of the rope, tossing it over the beam. As I did so, I thought about the people I was leaving behind.

I thought about my sister. I thought about Taylor. I thought about the impending Grounder attack that would destroy us without a leader. I had confidence that Sawyer could take my place, seeing as we'd agreed on it. A few days ago, Sawyer and I talked about the possibility of not having any kind of leader survive long enough to get us through the attack. I told him that if something happened to Clarke and Finn, and something happened to me, and no one was able to lead…he would be the leader.

I turned towards Murphy and he was smirking. "What do you want me to say?" I asked. "You want me to apologize? I'm sorry."

"You got it all wrong," Murphy said, with a devilish grin that made my skin crawl. "I don't want you to say anything. I want you to feel what I felt, and then…and then I want you to die." I looked up at the noose I'd just created for myself and willed Raven to work faster.

"You know, I gotta hand it to you, Bellamy," Murphy said, in a slow pace in front of me. I held onto the back of the noose and kept my hand in front, too, to keep it from touching my neck. I glared at Murphy as he spoke. "You got 'em all fooled. That they should look up to you as much as they look up to Clarke," the stool beneath my feet teetered and I struggled to keep my balance. "Yeah, but we know the truth. Don't we? You're a coward. I learned that the day you kicked the crate out from underneath me. But you were just giving the people what they wanted, right?"

"I should've stopped them," I lied, blank faced.

"Yeah, it's a little late for that," he said.

"What are you thinking? You think they're just gonna let you walk outta here?" I asked.

"Well, I think the princess is dead," Murphy said. "And I know the king's about to die, so who's really gonna lead these people, huh? Me. That's who. Yeah, and maybe I have to kill your Grounder-pounding little sister," Anger boiled in my veins as he said that, and I swung my leg out, just barely missing him. Murphy grabbed the rope and pulled, lifting me off of the stool a little by my neck. My wind pipe was closing and I struggled to breath. Suddenly a girlish yelp came from below us. Raven.

Murphy froze, and then looked at me with a smirk. He let go of the rope. "I'm guessing that's her right now," he said, aiming his gun at the floor. He shot several bullets into the floor. "No!" I said, as he shot. He ran out of bullets, distracting him. I tried to slip the noose off, but Murphy saw me, and he rushed forward, kicking the stool out from under me. The rope slammed tightly against my throat and I choked thrashing against the rope.

**Taylor's POV**

Jasper and I waited at the door. When it opened, Jasper called, "Raven, you did it!" It felt like the door was opening in slow motion. When it was open, Jasper led the way in, holding his gun ready. He paused at the door before I could get in, then he lurched forward all of the sudden. I walked in and gasped. Bellamy was hanging from a rope several feet off the ground, motionless. Jasper grabbed Bellamy's legs to hold him up. "Bell, hold on!" I said, running to the rope tied to the ladder. I reached up and grabbed the buckle, digging my fingers into it.

It flung off, unclasped. Bellamy fell and I rushed forward to help Jasper catch him. We lowered him to the ground and his eyes opened. "Bell, breathe," I said, pulling the noose off.

"Breathe! Can you breathe?" Jasper asked. Bellamy wheezed a little, still motionless. "You're okay, you're okay," I said. Bellamy rolled over and got up. "MURPHY!" he bellowed, hoarsely. He went to the ladder, furious, and I stood. "MURPHY! IT'S OVER!" He started climbing up the ladder, and he pushed on the hatch. It wouldn't give. Murphy had locked it form his side. "There's no way you're getting out of this now!" Bellamy said, pushing with all his might. A loud explosion shook the whole dropship.

Bellamy pushed through, into the second level. "MURPHY!" he yelled. Smoke traveled down from the level, and I followed up with Jasper in toe. The level was clouded, but it was obvious that Murphy wasn't here. There was a big round hole in the side of the wall now. Bellamy was looking out of it as Murphy ran away. "Guy sure knows how to make an exit," Jasper said. "Should we go after him?"

"Nah. Grounders will take care of Murphy," Bellamy said. "But we're going after Clarke, Finn, and Monty. You and Raven were right. We don't abandon our own. Two guns, you and me, that's it. Raven stays here to build up defenses." Bellamy started for the ladder, not looking at me once. "We lost a day because of this, and our gun powder. Raven!"

"Bellamy, wait," Jasper said, walking over to Bellamy. "Look I just…" Jasper moved forward and gave Bellamy a hug. Then he stepped back. "Long way from 'whatever the h*ll we want'."

"_All gunners, we've got movement outside the south wall_," Miller said, over the walkie. Bellamy went down first, followed by Jasper, and then me. We walked outside as Miller said, "Hold your fire, it's Clarke and Finn! Open the gate!" Kids rushed forward to pull open the gate. Clarke and Finn came running into camp and they skidded to a halt in front of us. "Hey, we heard an explosion. What happened?" Clarke asked.

"Murphy happened," I said.

"Thank g*d!" Jasper rushed forward and gave Clarke a hug. "Where've you been? Where's Monty?" Jasper stepped back and Clarke's face fell. "Monty's gone?" she asked.

"Clarke," Finn said. "We need to leave, now, all of us do," he turned to the crowd of kids. "There's an army of Grounders unlike anything we've ever seen coming for us right now. We need to pack what we can and run."

"Like h*ll we do," Bellamy said. "We knew this was coming."

"Bell," Octavia said. "We're not prepared."

"And they're not here yet. We still have time to get ready. Besides, where would we go? Where would we be safer than behind these walls?" Bellamy asked.

"There's an ocean to the East," Finn said. "People there will help us." Clarke nodded in response. "You saw Lincoln," Octavia said.

"You expect us to trust a Grounder?" Bellamy asked. He turned to the crowd, and I felt a speech brewing. "This is our home now! We built this from nothing with our bare hands! Our dead are buried behind that wall, in this ground! Our ground! The Grounders think they can take that away. They think that because we came from the sky we don't belong here! But they have yet to realize one important fact: we're on the ground now. And that means, _we are Grounders_!"

"Grounders with guns!" some guy called out.

"D*mn right!" I replied.

"Let them come!" Bellamy said.

"Bellamy's right," Clarke said. "If we leave, we may never find some place as safe as this. And g*d knows, in this world…we could be faced with something even worse tomorrow. But that doesn't change the simple fact that if we stay here, we will die tonight. So pack your things. Just take what you can carry. _Now_." Everyone dispersed, running to pack their things. I sighed and started for my tent. A hand on my wrist tugged, stopping me. I turned and saw that it was Bellamy. "We need to talk," he said, quietly.

"Later," I nodded. He let me go and I walked towards my tent in a quick pace. Sawyer fell into step beside me. "You think this'll work?" he asked, his voice hard, his expression serious. I shook my head. "I don't know," I said. "Probably not, but it's worth a shot, right?" He grabbed my arm and stopped me, turning me so that I had to look at him. "Whatever happens," he said, looking into my eyes. "Don't worry about me. This time, in this fight, you think for yourself."

"Sawyer, I can't-"

"No, Taylor. You don't get a choice. If things go south and you have the opportunity, you run. You run like h*ll and you don't stop, don't look back. Got it?" he asked. I was frozen. I couldn't agree to this. I couldn't ever abandon Sawyer. Tears welled up in my eyes at the thought of losing him. I couldn't lose him, too. But I nodded numbly. "And you do the same," I said. He nodded and pulled me into his arms. "I love you, Tay," he said. "Always remember that."

"I love you, too," I said, holding onto him tightly. He kissed the top of my head, and then he left me to go pack. _Get it together, Taylor_, I thought. I sucked in a breath and hurried to my tent. I packed what little I had into my makeshift pack and hurried out. I made it to the group at the gate just as Sawyer and Bellamy did. "It's later," Bellamy said to me. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me left, behind a vacant tent. "Taylor, I know you think Raven and I-" I cut him off, rising up on my toes and pressing my lips to his.

He instantly kissed me back, opening his mouth to deepen it. His hands cupped my face, and I wound my arms around his neck. All we had was all of about two minutes before we had to leave camp. I wanted that two minutes to be spent showing Bellamy that I still love him. "I love you," I said, pulling back, breathless. With his face inches form mine, his surprise was evident. "I don't care what happened, okay? None of that matters to me anymore…I love you, Bellamy Blake." His thumb brushed across my lower lip and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"I love you, Taylor James," he said. Then he smiled a real smile that I'd never seen on him. It wasn't a sarcastic and teasing smile—like the only smile he'd ever used around everyone—it was warm and bright, and completely mine. I looked over every inch of his face, burning his image into the back of my mind. "I don't want to lose you," I said. He kissed me. "You won't," he said, leaning his forehead into mine, keeping eye contact. His expression was determined, but I wasn't so sure. "Time to go everybody!" Miller called, sounding far away.

Bellamy closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. "Let's go," he said, stepping back. He took my hand and his fingers slid to lock into place with mine. This was it. We would either make it to the coast, or die trying.

_**To Be Continued… **_


	14. Chapter Fourteen: We Are Grounders (2)

_Chapter Fourteen: We Are Grounders (Part Two)_

**Azalea's POV**

The gate opened and the gunners went out first, making sure it was safe, followed by everyone else. It was a sea of people, and I was just about in the very back to make sure all of us got out, so everyone went out first in front of me. Taylor joined the sea beside me, and I looked over my shoulder, taking one last look at our home. But I noticed Bellamy was still inside, alone. "I'll be right with you," I said, nudging Taylor.

"Hurry," she said, with a curt nod. I turned and walked over to him, and he met me half way. He looked disappointed, and he had every reason to be. "You did good here, Bellamy," I said.

"Eighteen dead," he said.

"Eighty-two alive," I countered, encouragingly. "You did good." He gave a small nod and grabbed one of the water jugs. He poured it out on the fire and steam rose up high in the sky. He tossed the jug away and we began walking to join everyone else. He swung his gun out in front of him and held it ready.

**Octavia's POV**

As we walked, I was pretty much in the front the whole time. Mainly to keep an eye out for Grounders because the knuckle heads behind me wouldn't be able to spot a brick wall if it was right in front of them. The two kids behind me kept talking, making it hard to focus. But I did my best to tune them out. "You know what I'm gonna do when I get to the beach?" one kid asked. I'm pretty sure it was Miller. "No. What?" the other asked.

"I'm gonna go surfing," Miller said. Jasper sighed exhaustively, sounding as annoyed as I felt. Jasper was a gunner so he was in the front. And so were Miller, Harper, Sawyer, and several others. "Be quiet," Jasper said. "Keep your eyes open."

"No more woods. Hear the ocean, pale blue water," the other kid said, ignoring Jasper's words. Just as Azalea came up to the near front beside me with a gun, I halted everyone by putting my hand up. I heard something strange, and I tried to hone in on what it was, but it was hard to hear over all of the murmuring. Suddenly, out of nowhere came an axe. It flew through the air from far away and sunk into a kid's face, the same kid that was talking to Miller. Everyone around him backed away quickly. "GROUNDERS!" Jasper yelled.

Everyone started screaming and running back for camp. Bellamy was at the gate guiding everyone in. The screams were defining, but once I got to the gate I stood on the other side and pushed people in. "Move!" I shouted over the screams to hear myself. Miller and I closed the gate once everyone was through it, and Bellamy and Taylor climbed up onto the fence. "Where are they?" Bellamy asked. "Why are they attacking?"

"Because we're doing exactly what they wanted us to do," Taylor said. I had a bad feeling about this whole situation. Of course the Grounders would use this tactic—it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel. They're smart. They've obviously been watching since we landed, finding out what we're made of and what scares us. Clarke had apparently been up on the fence when I wasn't paying attention, because she turned around next to Bellamy and said, "Lincoln said the scouts would be the first to arrive."

"If it's just scouts then we can fight our way out," I said, walking over, into the conversation. "That's what Lincoln would do."

"We're done doing what that Grounder would do. We tried it and now Jerry's dead, do you wanna be next?" Bellamy asked, jumping off the fence and walking to my side.

"That Grounder saved our lives," Clarke said, hoping down as well. "I agree with Octavia. For all we know, there's one scout out there."

"One scout with insanely good aim," Jasper commented.

"Taylor, we can still do this," I said, pining for one more person to agree with me. Maybe democracy would win out. Taylor was frozen, unmoving when I needed her to say something. Anything would help. The one time I want her to talk, she doesn't. Ironic, right? "Looking to you, princess," Bellamy said. "What's it gonna be? Run and get picked off out in the open, or stand and fight?" Again, she was quiet. Obviously thinking. She turned around and looked at the woods, then she jumped down. "Taylor, if we're still here when Tristen gets here-" Finn said, grabbing her arm.

She turned on him. "Lincoln said 'scouts', more than one. He said, 'get home before the scouts arrive'. Finn, they're already here!" She turned to Bellamy with a somewhat sour expression. "Looks like you've got your fight," she said.

"Okay then," Bellamy said, turning to the rest of us. "This is what we've been preparing for! Kill them before they kill us! Gunners, to your posts. Use the tunnels to get in and out. From now on the gate stays closed!" I nodded to myself and started moving. "O, O," Bellamy grabbed my arm, stopping me. "You're not a gunner."

"No, I'm not," I said. "Like you said…I'm a Grounder." I held up my knife for emphasis to his dumbfounded yet knowing expression, and then ran to one of the tunnels. "Alright, let's get to those foxholes!" Miller said, leading the charge out the other side.

**Clarke's POV**

I walked over to Bellamy. "So, how the h*ll do we do this?" I questioned. He led the way into the dropship, to a table with a makeshift outlay of camp and the mines and traps around it. With his arms crossed, he told me, Finn, Raven, and Taylor the game plan. "We've got twenty-five rifles with twenty rounds each, give or take, roughly five-hundred rounds of ammo. While you two were gone, we made some improvements. Thanks to Raven, the gully's mined," I stood and walked over to the table.

"Partially mined," Raven interjected. "Thanks to Murphy."

"Still, it's the main road in. If the Grounders use, we'll know," Bellamy said. I nodded, taking in the new information. It didn't leave much room for error. But, then again, the only solid, plausible plan we have is to fight our way through it. And we don't have the man power for something like this. We would need hundreds more of us, with guns. And bullets. "She also built grenades," Bellamy said, grabbing one from a box on the table. It was thin and cylindrical.

"That's not many," I said.

"Again," Raven said. "Thank you Murphy." Bellamy put the grenade back, crossing his arms again. "We'll make them count. If the Grounders make it through the front gate, guns and grenades should force them back," Bellamy said. I paused. "And then?" I asked. He gave me a look that said he wasn't expecting me to ask that. And I knew, he was just going to wing-it. "Then we close the door and pray," Raven said, wincing from the hole in her side. Thanks to Murphy, Raven was now unable to walk.

He'd shot her through the floor of the dropship while Finn and I were captured by Grounders, or so I'm told. I twisted to look at her. "And pray what?" I asked. "That the ship keeps them out? Because it won't." I turned back to Bellamy with an expectant look. "Then let's not let them get through the gate," Bellamy said. He held the walkie to his lips. "All foxholes, listen up. Keep your eyes and ears open. Inflict casualties—as many as possible. Hold them off long enough to to make them turn back. That's the plan," he said.

"That's always your plan," Finn said. "Just like the bomb on the bridge."

"D*mn right," Bellamy said. "You got a better idea?"

"Can't be that simple…" I mumbled to myself, shaking my head. Then I turned to Raven. "You said there's fuel in those rockets right? Enough to build a hundred bombs?" I asked.

"Yeah, except we've got no gun powder left," she said.

"I don't wanna build a bomb," I said. "I wanna blast off." A smile tugged at her lips as my idea bubbled it's way into her head, and she started to understand what I was saying. "Draw them in close…fire the rockets…a ring of fire," she said, in awe of the idea. She looked more determined than ever before. "Barbequed Grounders," Bellamy said, smirking. "I like it." I glanced at Taylor and she looked at me. I was afraid for a moment that she would disagree and be an advocate for the Grounders. But, then she smiled and gave me a nod, and I knew this was the plan. My plan. "Will it work?" Taylor asked, looking at Raven.

"The wiring's a mess down there, but…yeah. You give me enough time, I'll cook 'em real good," she replied. She looked at me and I nodded. We might actually survive this.

**Felicity's POV**

"Here's how we bring the Ark to the ground. Stage one: separation from Gosign. A serious of explosions will sever the ring that we are now standing in from the rest of the Ark. Once we have separation, all port thrusters will fire, and our orbit will being to degrade," Sinclair said, running the simulation on the screens. "Stage two: reentry. Reentry will be violent and it will be very, very hot. Friction will break the Ark back into it's original stations."

"Some of the stations…and we can't predict which…will explode," Kane said, beside Sinclair. Karlie grabbed my hand beside me and I thought of Taylor. When she was four, she had terrible nightmares. Nightmares that would wake up our neighbor's neighbors. She would hold onto my hand while she explained the dream to our parents and then, still holding my hand, she would go back to sleep. That was always us. That was what was comforting to us both. Just knowing that the other is there is enough.

I reminded myself that it wasn't Taylor standing beside me, three feet tall and sucking on her thumb. No, it was Karlie, eighteen and able to stand alone. The eerie feeling in the room was toxic. Not all of us would make it to the ground. And now everyone knew it. "And some of us will be on those stations," Kane continued. As if we didn't get the picture he was painting. Sinclair took that as his queue for the next stage to be presented. "Which brings us to Stage three: landing. All starboard thrusters on the surviving stations will fire, acting as landing rockets. They will slow the impact even further," he said.

The simulation on the screen showed all of it. It was nerve racking, thinking we'd be doing that soon. "Now our target speed for impact with the ground is seventy miles per hour. In all my simulations, anything above that is not survivable," Sinclair said. Everyone started murmuring and whispering frantically among themselves and I put an arm around Karlie, as I noticed she was biting her nails. Kane glanced at me and I tried my best for a small smile. I tried to show I was okay with it. That I wasn't scared to death of the idea of hurtling toward the earth at hundreds of miles per hour in a ball of fire. But the truth is, I'm scared to death.

Chancellor Jaha turned to the crowd, after staring at the screens the whole time. "No one said this would be easy. But if we don't try it, we all die," he said, surveying each of us.

"So, how close are we gonna land to the kids?" Abby Griffin asked, to Karlie's right. There was a silent pause. "As close as we can," Jaha said.

**Taylor's POV**

I let out a stiff breath as I looked for the right wire, holding up a flashlight to try and see. The light was horrible on the lower level of the dropship. "Finn, do you see it over there?" I asked, moving to a different section of wires.

"No," Finn called back.

"Raven, we can't find the ignition system!" I called up the ladder. She was quiet and I frowned. "Raven?"

"I-I can't feel my legs," she said, her voice trembling.

"Okay, hold on," I said, climbing up the ladder. "We're coming." I climbed up through the small hatch, next to Raven. "Okay, let me see," I said. I went to her side and knelt down. Gently, I helped her lean forward and she cried out doing so. Finn had climbed out and was sitting in front of Raven. I lifted up her shirt and jacket, and found a large section of her lower back was purple. I glanced at Finn, then back at the purple. "That bad, huh?" Raven asked. I didn't know what to say to her, so I sat her up.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "Raven, the bullet's in your spine." Her face fell and Finn's head drooped. I instantly felt bad for delivering the news, but she had to know. There was no way to avoid it. "You're bleeding internally," I said. She and Finn shared a glance. "We better do this fast then, huh?" she said. "Get back down there." I went to stand but Finn stopped me. "What if we could slow the bleeding?" he asked me. "Would that help?"

"Well, of course it would help," I said. "Can you tell me how to do that?"

"The stuff the Grounders had, Coagulant," he said. "You said that Lincoln had some, too."

"Yeah, it's in the box with the antidote. But I really-" I said.

"I bet there's more of it in his cave. If I could get there-" he cut me off.

"Whoa wait a second. No," Raven said.

"I can make it," Finn said, determined. I stared at him, knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop him from going. "Taylor, tell him he's being an idiot," Raven said.

"Raven," Finn said.

"What?" Raven asked. "I'm not gonna let you die to save me."

"Fine. If you won't let me save you, how about we save everybody else? You're the only one who can fire those rockets," he said. "If you die, we all die. I'll be right back." He stood and hurried for the door. I bolted to my feet and followed. "No, Finn, wait," I said. "Wait!" I grabbed his arm and he turned to me. "Taylor, I need to do this," he said.

"I can't lose you, too," I said.

"You won't," he said. I nodded numbly and he hurried out of the dropship.

**Felicity's POV**

"_Hydra station good to go_," came over the radio, followed by all of the other stations. I tugged shirt hem, completely nervous. "Chancellor Jaha, all stations are prepared for launch," Sinclair said, into the radio. Karlie, Rossa, and Izabella were to my right respectively. Kane and Abby were to my left. "_In peace, may you leave the shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until out final journey to the ground. May we meet again,_" Jaha said, over the radio.

"May we meet again," I said, along with everyone else on our station.

"_Sinclair_," Jaha said.

"Yes, sir," Sinclair said.

"_Take us home_," Jaha said.

"Taking us home, sir," Sinclair said. A lump grew in my throat in anticipation, and Karlie grasped my hand. I looked and saw Karlie, Rossa, Izabella, and I were all holding hands. At least, if we died, we'd be together. And I know Taylor and Sawyer think I'm dead already, so they won't be hurt by this. "Initiate Gosign separation," Sinclair said. "In five…four…three…two…one…separate." He pressed the button. And nothing happened. "Sir, remote detonations failed. No Gosign separation, negative for launch," Sinclair said, into the radio.

"_Can you fix it_?" Jaha asked.

"Not form here, sir, no. Someone will have to launch manually," Sinclair replied, sounding grim. Kane began unbuckling and my heart dropped. "What are you doing?" I asked, putting an arm across his chest to prevent him from moving. He gave me a look, like I should have known he'd volunteer and I should already know what he was doing. "Someone has to stay behind, Felicity," he said. I turned to Sinclair, not moving my arm. "There has to be another way," I said.

"I can go back and reprogram the system, but it will take time," Sinclair said. "We'll miss the window for the Eastern United States. We won't land anywhere near the hundred.'

"Then we'll wait until it comes back around again," I said. Sinclair shook his head. "The Ark will be out of air by then," he said. Kane looked at me and I turned to look at him. I'd lost everyone I cared about years ago. But then I met Kane, I felt like I had something to lose in all of this. I couldn't lose him, too. Not after Taylor and Sawyer, my parents…he took my head, looking down. "Salvation," he said, looking at me. "Comes with a price." He moved to leave, his warm hand nearly escaping mine. But I tugged him back for one last second and pressed my lips to his. It was quick and short lived, and when he pulled away I hoped that my eyes would explain everything.

Finally, his hand slid free and he stood. On his way to the door, many people briefly shook hands with him in thanks. I bit my lower lip and tried not to cry, sucking in deep breaths. "How much air will he have?" I asked Sinclair, my voice hollow.

"A week. Two weeks at most," he replied, as I watched Kane walk away. He nearly made it to the door when a suddenly jolt of our station shook everyone drastically. Suddenly we were moving, jostling lightly. "We're away…we're away, we've launched!" Sinclair said.

"How?" Abby asked.

"_Ark stations…Godspeed_," Chancellor Jaha's voice came over the radio. I was relieved, but also saddened. Abby pressed on her ear piece and began a quiet conversation with the Chancellor.

**Sawyer's POV**

Everything was relatively quiet. But then a steady beat of drums echoed from not too far off. I held my rifle tighter and stole a glance at Miller to my right. He looked at me and nodded, and I nodded in response. We were both ready for this. At least, as ready as we could be with what little time we had to prepare—mentally and physically. Suddenly Bellamy dropped into the foxhole next to me and held his rifle ready. "Where's Octavia?" he asked.

"She left about five minutes ago, didn't say where to," Miller said.

"She thinks she's a d*mn Samurai," I said, remembering the focused look in her eyes as she dashed away. Bellamy didn't reply but I saw a hint of a smirk. "See anything?"

"Nope," Monroe replied, at the far left end of the foxhole. "What the h*ll are they waiting for?"

"The longer they wait the better," Bellamy said. "This is about buying for Raven."

"I see them! I count one, two- no wait, there's four! I don't know, man, there's too d*mn many," came from the walkie, right before a loud gunshot. Gun shots kept going off. "Who the h*ll was that?" I asked.

"Sterling, I think. South foxhole," Miller said.

"South foxhole, report now!" Bellamy said, into the walkie. Two more shots went off before Sterling replied. "_Yeah, yeah, I think we're okay. They didn't attack. It's like shooting a ghost_," he said, through the walkie. Suddenly Monroe said, "There!" as a shadowy figure darted through the trees. She and Miller fired multiple shots, missing badly. "Stop! Stop!" Bellamy and I yelled.

"Don't fire!" I shouted, as Miller and Monroe both ran out of bullets.

"Reload, now," Bellamy ordered.

"Those were our last clips," Miller said. Gun shots prevailed in the distance. "We should fall back," Monroe said, fear evident in her voice.

"No. If this foxhole falls, they walk right through the front door," Bellamy said. I let out a breath and looked through my scope.

**Taylor's POV**

Fuzzy chatter was coming through the walkie I had non-stop. I knew Sawyer was a gunner, but I didn't hear his voice on the walkie. There were no talks of a death, though it still scared me. "Do you see it or don't you?" Raven called down the ladder. I sighed. "No! It's a mess down here!" I said.

"It'll be orange. Look harder!" she said. "You have to find the wire that connects the manual override to the electro magnet feed." I crawl under a beam, holding my flashlight up, and stopped at the far wall. I parted some wires to look for the orange one. "It's not rocket science," Raven said. I glanced back towards the ladder. "It is rocket science…actually," I said. I turned back to the wires and kept looking, to no avail. How was I supposed to find an orange wire, when all I saw were black and grey ones?

She had to know this was hard. I was trying my best to find it. "Guess we finally found something you're not good at," she said. _But we all know you're good at seducing other people's boyfriends_, I thought. "I used to be picked first for everything. Earth Skills…Zero G Met Course…first. Every time. So how the h*ll did I end up here?" I paused and sat back on my heels. Even though Raven did something horrible to me, I felt bad for her. I believe everyone deserves a second chance, so why is it so hard for me to give her one?

I swallowed all of the things I could've said, and instead said, "Hey, Raven? I'd pick you first." She was quiet a moment. Then she said, "Of course you would. I'm awesome." It sounded like she was crying, or very close to it. I turned back to the wires and moved a few apart to see better. My eyes shot wide as my fingers landed on an orange wire. "Hey! I found it!" I said. "I found the orange wire!"

"About time! Now follow that wire to the override panel!" Raven said. As she spoke, my hands followed the wire. Only the orange wire ended in a fray. Ruined. I sighed. "Raven, it's fried," I said. "Totally useless. Tell me this isn't as bad as I think."

"You know how to splice a wire?" she asked me. I frowned. "No," I replied.

"Then it's worse," she said. She cried out in pain as I heard her trying to move herself. "Hey, stop! Just talk me through it," I said. Suddenly Jasper's voice filled the radio waves as he screamed, "_We need back-up_!" Then a second later he said, "_Raven, your mines actually work_!"

"Jasper can splice!" Raven realized. I grabbed the walkie and pressed the button on the side. "Jasper, we need you in the dropship right now," I said into it.

"_Negative. We can't give up the west woods_," Bellamy responded instead of Jasper. My heart fluttered at the sound of his voice. But I forced myself to stay on point. "The west woods are mined, Bellamy. The Grounders just figured that out. Jasper, get in here," I said. There was a long pause. Then Sawyer spoke. "_All gunners listen up. The Grounders are not attacking, they're making us waste bullets_," he said. "_Don't shoot when they're running diagonally_."

"_Sawyer's right, do not shoot unless you're sure it's an attack. I repeat do not fire unless you are sure_," Bellamy said.

"_Taylor, hang tight. I'm on my way_," Jasper said. I sighed in relief. Maybe Clarke's plan would work after all.

**Sawyer's POV**

A gun shot rang out, leaving the faintest of echoes in it's wake. Then, Grounders started charging for our foxhole from the trees. "Here they come!" I shouted. I got low and started firing. I took out three and Miller took out one. Monroe darted back towards camp and miller chased after her. "Monroe, get back here!" he called. Suddenly a Grounder jumped over our barricade and toppled Bellamy backwards. "Bellamy!" Miller said, rushing to help.

The Grounder sent a spear into Miller's shoulder. Bellamy stood and fought the Grounder, swinging for a punch. The Grounder grabbed Bellamy and sent his knee into Bellamy's gut several times. Then he slammed Bellamy into a tree and pushed him to the ground, where he proceeded to strangle him. Grounders kept coming and coming at our foxhole, but I kept them at bay with my rifle. I glanced over my shoulder at Bellamy being choked to death. If I stopped shooting, the foxhole could become compromised.

But, before I had time to act, Octavia drove a sword into the Grounder's head. "Admit it," she said. "You were wrong." A volley of arrows flew into the foxhole. One struck Octavia in the thigh, and one nearly landed square in my forehead. "Sawyer, Miller, fall back now!" Bellamy said. I hurriedly got to my feet. Bellamy was practically carrying Octavia, but he motioned for me to leave them. "Go, protect camp!" he said. I nodded and high tailed it to the tunnels.

**Finn's POV**

As I made it into Lincoln's cave, I started rummaging through everything. Every bag, box, even under every rock. Anywhere that he could hide a vial. The only light was that of my flashlight, and it wasn't very helpful. I turned, looking for another place to look. I jumped out of my skin when I saw Lincoln slowly inching into the cave, holding a knife ready. "Lincoln! You made it," I said.

"I told you to leave," he said, angrily. He slid his knife away. "We tried. The scouts were already there," I panted.

"_Charlie, do you copy_?" came through my walkie.

"What is that?" Lincoln asked. I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to Lincoln. "Why are you not there?" he asked, staring at it.

"Raven was shot. We need medicine to slow the bleeding," I said.

"You came to save one life?" he hissed.

"I don't have time to explain! Do you have the medicine or not?" I asked.

"I have it," he said. He went to a bag hanging from the wall and dug around in it. He tossed me something wrapped in tan cloth. "_Stand your ground. If they take the gate, we're all dead_," Bellamy said, through the walkie in Lincoln's hand. He looked at it, then at me. "I'm going with you. Let's go," he said, turning for the exit. I hurried to follow after him but I tripped lightly on something, and I stopped. It was his journal. A sketch of a Reaper was staring me in the face. _The enemy of my enemy is my friend_, I thought. "Wait!" I called.

I knelt and grabbed the picture. "Let's move," Lincoln said, coming back in.

"How far did the Reapers chase you?" I asked.

"They'd still be chasing me if I didn't lose them, why?" he asked.

"I have a really bad idea."

**Azalea's POV**

I stood on the inside of the gate, on a perch, firing at the incoming Grounders. Their battle cry was deafening. "There's too many! Everybody in the dropship, now!" Miller shouted.

"No!" Clarke shouted. "We need more time. Gunners, stay at your posts. The rest of you inside. Come on, quick." Everyone not holding a gun, raced for the dropship. Suddenly a thundering crack form the sky caught all our attentions. I stared up, now seeing the bright ball of fire barreling toward the ground. "Is that from the Ark?" Kat asked Clarke.

"That is the Ark," she said. The Ark broke into several pieces, burning most of it. My heart lurched in my chest. The Grounders screamed, "ATTACK!" But they froze, and so did we, at the sound of a primitive hooting. "REAPERS!" one of the Grounders yelled. I could just barely make out the Grounders and Reapers starting to slay each other.

**Taylor's POV**

I walked out of the dropship to get Clarke. Raven wasn't looking good. A light bobbed form the tunnel to the left and I froze. Finn appeared. "Oh my g*d," I said. I ran to him, throwing my arms around him in a hug. I stepped back. "What did you do?" I asked, referring to the mess of Grounders versus Reapers outside the gate.

"Kicked a hornet's nest," he said.

"You mean the Reapers?" I asked.

"I just bought us some time," he said, and I nodded. "How's Raven?"

"She's not good," I said. We headed for the dropship, and Clarke met us near the ramp. "The rockets aren't ready yet. Jasper's working on them now," I said, as Finn handed Clarke something oddly shaped, wrapped in cloth.

"Wait, Jasper? What's plan B?" he asked.

"Jasper was plan B," Clarke said. She hurried into the dropship and Finn followed. I looked at the gate, and movement caught my eye to the right. A kid was covered in blood, staggering from what looked to be a severe ankle injury. I gasped. That kid was Sawyer.

**Bellamy's POV**

I carried Octavia to a safe distance from the fight. I was aiming for camp, but I wouldn't be able to get her there safely. Not with the Grounders so close. "Who is that?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said, lowering her to the ground. "But while they're distracted, let's move."

"We'll never make it," she said, only half-lucid. It was true, we probably wouldn't. "Leave me, I'll find another way," she said.

"I'm not going anywhere without you," I said. She nodded with a knowing look. "Octavia!" Lincoln knelt beside us and Octavia jumped in surprise. "Lincoln?" She smiled and wrapped her arms around him. They pulled away and Lincoln glanced at me, sensing the awkwardness of this situation. "You did this?" I asked, gesturing to the battle going on around us. He nodded. "With Finn," he said. Octavia audibly winced from the arrow still in her leg.

Lincoln looked down at finally saw it. "It's deep," he said, and my heart shattered. "I can help you, but you have to come with me now." He looked at me for approval and I nodded. "Go," I said. A lump formed in my throat and my eyes seared. Octavia quickly turned to me. "No way, I have to see this through," she said.

"You can't walk and I can't get you back to the dropship," I said.

"He's right," Lincoln said. "This fight is over for you." She leaned back into the moss covered tree root behind her, a look of disappointment evident on her face. "O," I said. "Listen to me. I told you my life ended the day you were born. The truth is…it didn't start until then. You go with him. I need you to live. Besides, I got this." She shook her head and jumped into my arms. I held onto her tightly, not knowing if this would be our last moment together. She pulled back and whispered, "I love you, big brother."

"May we meet again," I said, forcing myself not to cry.

"May we meet again," she nodded, crying. I helped her up and into Lincoln's arms. Lincoln looked at me one last time. "Keep her safe," I said. He nodded and carried my only family away. I watched them leave, then I got down behind the tree in front of me. The Grounders finished off the Reapers, and then rushed the gate. I turned and bolted for the tunnels.

**Taylor's POV**

"Sawyer!" I shrieked, as he fell into my arms. Gun shots were going off, Grounders were climbing the fence…we were surrounded. I dragged him as best I could to the side, near the dropship, behind a few boxes. I hoped they would hide us. Sawyer cursed and I noticed the bruises and cuts on his face. "Oh my g*d," I said. "What happened to you?"

"Taylor, get in the dropship," Clarke said, kneeling down behind the boxes next to me, Finn at her side. I turned to her. "No, I'm not leaving my brother," I said.

"Hey, you made a promise, remember?" Sawyer said, bringing my attention back to him. Kids launched grenades at the gate, where Grounders now poured in. Sawyer turned and saw the chaos ensuing. He got up to his feet, in a crouch, and gave me a serious look. "Get to the d*mn dropship, now!" he said. He dashed out from behind the pile we hid behind and charged for a Grounder. "NO!" I yelled. "Sawyer!" Clarke grabbed my arm, keeping me from following him. "Look, there he is!" Finn said.

I turned and saw Bellamy appearing in the mouth of the tunnel. "He's never gonna make it," I said, quickly, panic swelling in my chest. "Bellamy, run!" He glanced in our direction, then grabbed a gun off the floor, running towards a Grounder. Why wouldn't anyone listen to me? Bellamy tried to fire, but the gun was empty. The Grounder swung a knife at him but he dodged it. The Grounder punched Bellamy, then Bellamy blocked, then the Grounder hit Bellamy again. The Grounder was advancing, beating Bellamy relentlessly. "He's killing him," I said, trying to pulling from Clarke's grasp.

She was too strong, and I couldn't fight her. To the right, Sawyer came running up and the Grounder that was attacking Bellamy turned and hit him in the side of the head. Sawyer dropped to the ground, and Finn picked up a gun, standing. He shot the Grounder in the shoulder and then charged forward. "No, Finn, no!" I screamed. Clarke let go of me and ushered kids into the dropship. Finn rammed into the Grounder, sending them both to the ground. "No!"

Sawyer got up and tackled on top of the Grounder, moving to strangle him. Miller came to my side. "Taylor, you can't save everybody! Let's go!" he said, grabbing my arm. I pulled against him. I wouldn't let him take me when my friends were still outside. Tears streamed from my eyes and Miller left me. I looked around. Kids were dying left and right. We were almost all gone now. I looked at Bellamy, where he was propped up on his elbows, blood dripping from his nose and various cuts. He locked eyes with me and motioned to the dropship with his eyes.

He gave a slight nod and mouthed, 'I love you' before charging another Grounder. I looked up and saw the sea of Grounders flowing in the gate, and I darted into the dropship. I stepped past the tarp and pulled up the lever that controlled the door. It made a smooth hissing sound as the door closed. Just before the door could close, Anya came through the tarp. I backed up and one of the kids aimed a gun at her. She held her knives ready, looking at all of us. The door sealed behind her and the Grounder banged on it.

Clarke turned and said, "Jasper, now!" from beside me. He flipped the switch, and a clunking sound came in place of the rockets actually firing. The Grounders shook the dropship violently and I turned to Anya. "Anya, you can't win," I said. She screamed a battle cry and whipped her knives around. But before she could attack, the kid beside me rammed his gun into the side of her head. She dropped to the ground and people began kicking and beating her. "Stop!" I shouted. "No, stop! Get back!" I managed to get in between them and Anya.

"She deserves to die!" Miller said, swinging his knife.

"No!" I grabbed his wrist, stopping him. Then I turned to everyone else. "We are _not_ Grounders." Then suddenly the whole dropship jerked backwards, sending me flying onto my back as the rockets fired. After it died out, the dropship slammed back down to the ground. We'd actually lifted off by what seemed to be about five feet. And the dropship was suddenly still. As the door dropped, was we'd deemed it safe it the morning, I prepared myself for what we might see.

I held my breath as it finished opening. Clarke held back the tarp and I walked out first, eager to find my brother. All around camp was black. Ash and burnt corpses covered the ground in a thick mess. The bones in front of the dropship were steaming in the cool morning air. It didn't look like anyone had survived. I stepped off the ramp. Voices sounded behind me, but I couldn't hear them. _My brother's gone_, I thought. _Bellamy's gone. Finn's gone. They're all gone_. Tears filled my eyes.

Suddenly, a small capsule spewing red smoke landed beside me and I startled. "What the h*ll?" Jasper said, behind me.

"Mountain men," Anaya said. The fumes filled my nose and I coughed hoarsely, dropping to my knees. I felt dizzy and light-headed and I collapsed side-ways. I looked up and saw a blurry figure with a bright green dot of a rifle sight aimed at me. Then everything went black.

My eyelids felt so heavy, I could hardly lift them. White light blinded me for a minute until my eyes adjusted, and then I saw a crisp white ceiling above me. My eyes snapped wide and I sat up, wincing as I felt a dull throb in my head. I swung my feet off the white bed I lay on and touched the ground. It was cold and hard, and also white. I was wearing different clothes. Clean, white shorts and a tank top to match. They were both form fitting, but flexible like a second skin.

I looked down and ripped the IV from my arm. I whipped around, taking in my new surroundings. There was a sink and a toilet. An odd painting hung on the wall. There was a couch and an end table. I jolted up to my feet as I saw the door, directly across the room from me. I walked over to it and looked through the circular window. Across a hallway was another room. Through the window, Monty appeared. He was mouthing my name and pushing on the door. I panicked. "Monty?" I pulled on the door handle, but it was locked.

I looked out the window and froze. There was a sign to the right of Monty's room, and it said, "Mount Weather Quarantine Ward".


End file.
